Prop 2
Here's my take. I think Prop 2 was a serious miscalculation by the Texas Republicans.
Why in the fuck would you put this no-brainer on the ballot for a not-even-midterm election? It's just stupid. Save it for 2006 when Kinky Friedman suddenly looks like a reasonable shot against Rick Perry, or when an unexpectedly strong democrat is bearing down on the Lt. Gov. or Kay Bailey's Senate seat.
Which brings me to my main point -- these people have gotten so complacent that they're burning trumps on the first hand. That's a sign that they've begun to make mistakes and that they can be taken by surprise. I think one of the strongest things the Democratic party can do is try to put every race in play in Texas in 2006. Not because they'll win every seat (though they'll win some that no one thinks are winnable right now), but because if you tie down Texas Republican campaign contributions in Texas, they can't be used to fight Dem-winnable battles elsewhere. Democrats giving up on Texas is what allowed Delay to build his fundraising machine. If those dollars had been needed to fight strong local Democrats, they wouldn't have been available to build GOPAC, and it's incredibly long list of favors owed.
Next step: a non-profit which donates county-approved voting machines to each election district, with the stipulation that they be used to increase the total number of voting machines by the number donated, and that they be divided equally by precinct. That puts local Republican officials in a hell of a bind. They pretty much have to accept them, and then you can run GOTV operations without the 4-hour waits.
I left politics because I wasn't mean enough, but that was ten years ago. I might be getting there.
Why in the fuck would you put this no-brainer on the ballot for a not-even-midterm election? It's just stupid. Save it for 2006 when Kinky Friedman suddenly looks like a reasonable shot against Rick Perry, or when an unexpectedly strong democrat is bearing down on the Lt. Gov. or Kay Bailey's Senate seat.
Which brings me to my main point -- these people have gotten so complacent that they're burning trumps on the first hand. That's a sign that they've begun to make mistakes and that they can be taken by surprise. I think one of the strongest things the Democratic party can do is try to put every race in play in Texas in 2006. Not because they'll win every seat (though they'll win some that no one thinks are winnable right now), but because if you tie down Texas Republican campaign contributions in Texas, they can't be used to fight Dem-winnable battles elsewhere. Democrats giving up on Texas is what allowed Delay to build his fundraising machine. If those dollars had been needed to fight strong local Democrats, they wouldn't have been available to build GOPAC, and it's incredibly long list of favors owed.
Next step: a non-profit which donates county-approved voting machines to each election district, with the stipulation that they be used to increase the total number of voting machines by the number donated, and that they be divided equally by precinct. That puts local Republican officials in a hell of a bind. They pretty much have to accept them, and then you can run GOTV operations without the 4-hour waits.
I left politics because I wasn't mean enough, but that was ten years ago. I might be getting there.