09.14.09

Update on the Democratic Primary for Governor

Posted in 2010 Primary, Around The State, Commentary, Election 2010, Good Stuff, Redistricting at 10:32 am by wcnews

This weekend came news that despite the fact that there’s already 5 announced candidates on the Democratic side, with another exploring, former Travis County DA Ronnie Earle is still “leaning toward” running for governor.    While we are a fan of Earle’s, at this point, it’s hard to understand what he’s still mulling over about a run.

I’m with Kuff in that if Earle is going to run, he should announce sooner, rather than later.  Because Hank Gilbert, at this point, is filling the tough talking Democratic candidate void in the primary field very well, Gotta love some red meat!

One thing I do know is that it would be great to have Gilbert and Earle on the same general election ticket in 2010.  It would be one hell of a straight talking tandem for Democrats to have scouring the state next year. Maybe someone could talk Earle into running for Lt. Gov., (or AG), to run against Dewhurst. Many talk about legislative experience to be Lt. Gov., but Dewhurst didn’t have any when he got elected.

As far as the rest of the candidates for governor go, the link above from McBlogger, (red meat), sums up my feelings pretty well.

So, here we have a candidate for the Democratic nomination to be our Governor [Hank Gilbert] who is aggressively taking on 39% [Perry] and Senator Hairdo [KBH]. And from the other folks in the race, nothing. We have one up in Dallas [Kinky] hawking his line of [...] products. Another who expects everyone to part the sea for him [Schieffer]. Another who has to be begged to enter the race [Earle] (and has been leaning toward running for so long I’m afraid he’s gonna fall over). No even knows what Alvarado and Thompson are up to. In point of fact, my analysis from June is still spot on WRT the rest of the field.

To the other candidates in the D primary, feel free to keep running. But do it right. If you want to represent this party and lead this state, mount a credible campaign. Actually talk clearly and concisely about issues. Take on Republicans. Show some [...] heart.

Or, put your ego aside and let Hank do it. You may have noticed, he’s pretty good at it. [Parts in brackets are edits by EOW].

From Kuff above here’s what he had to say about Earle if he does run:

I know some people think that Earle’s role as prosecutor of elected officials who are accused of lawbreaking will be a bad thing for him as a statewide candidate. In particular, the concern is that his prosecution of Tom DeLay will make it impossible for him to get crossover votes. I disagree with that. There’s not a lot of people who care about DeLay any more, and those that do aren’t likely to vote for any Democrat anyway. I think DeLay’s status as a symbol of corruption, and Earle’s role in fighting it and helping get him out of government will appeal to independent voters. He’s got a good answer to the question, and as long as he sticks with that and steers the conversation back towards what he wants to do as Governor, I believe this issue will eventually fade away. Having said that, I would be a little concerned about the timing of DeLay’s eventual trial. That will be a distraction if it happens while he’s on the campaign trail, and if DeLay ultimately walks it will be a lot more than that. I don’t know how to assess the risk of that – the proceedings have taken so long already, who knows when it will finally culminate? And of course, on the flip side, a conviction would be a huge boost for Earle. So who knows?

The FWST article from Friday is here, Ex-Travis County DA may run for governor in 2010. BOR adds their thoughts on the Gubernatorial Primary here, Democratic Gubernatorial Field Likely to Swell.

At this point it’s great to have so much interest in the race for governor on the Democratic side. On the other hand it’s a little disconcerting that we aren’t seeing more interest down ballot for statewide races. As stated in this R.G. Ratcliffe article over the weekend, Democrats mull statewide chances.

One of the biggest problems for the Democrats right now is that they have only one major candidate for a down-ballot executive office race: Barbara Ann Radnofsky for attorney general.

Winning down the ballot could be important for Democrats because if redistricting fails in the Legislature, legislative districts will be drawn by the Legislative Redistricting Board — consisting of the lieutenant governor, House speaker, attorney general, land commissioner and the comptroller.

Republicans showed in 2003 that the board could be used to create a partisan advantage in the Texas House that could then be used in the Legislature to create highly partisan congressional districts. If Democrats surrender seats on the board, they could be surrendering the shape of the congressional delegation for a decade.

Hopefully with the good news from the DNC last week about investing in Texas, and their emphasis on redistricting, there will be a better focus on putting together a credible Democratic ticket in 2010.  Whether that gets any of these candidates to move to a different race or not, who knows.  But it does mean that from this pool in the governor’s race only one will emerge, leaving the rest on the sidelines for the general election.  The Democratic Party’s resources are not just money, but includes it’s people, their experience,  grassroots effort, and many other things.  Those all have to be taken into account in our attempt to take back Texas. And getting great candidates to foster and use those resources it what needs to be the focus right now.

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