07.01.07
Rick Noriega Getting The Buzz This Weekend
BOR is reporting that Rep. Rick Noriega (D - Houston) will be starting his exploratory committee next week.
State Representative and Lt. Colonel Rick Noriega made news in front of over 100 Democrats today at the Mid-Cities Democrats 3rd Annual Independence Day picnic by announcing he is one week out from launching his senatorial exploratory committee.
The TO blog puts the Draft movement in perspective, Drafting a Veteran.
Given that, the term “draft” is more of a catch-all — shorthand for creating a single entity that can encourage the idea of Noriega running, gather information about him for voters and reporters, and generate interest. Many supporters, like Burnt Orange Report, aren’t campaigning just for Noriega, but encouraging a strong Democratic primary that gets voters involved.
Texas’ progressive bloggers, Kuffner said, have long wanted to emulate successes in other states in generating interest, energy, and — never to be discounted — funds for preferred candidates. Noriega is a “perfect storm candidate” who presents an opportunity to
basically say up front who we think the best candidate is. This sort of came up originally in maybe January. It was coming up at a time when it was going to be Nick Lampson or John Sharp. Someone else who was going to be handed down by … the money powers that be. A lot of us folks felt like, “We want to be a part of this conversation, too.”
It’s worth noting that Kuffner goes to great lengths to point out that this is not some kind of adversarial relationship with the fund-raisers who typically control this process. If Noriega runs he is going to need a lot of money both to get out of the primary and to take on Cornyn. Already Watts is using his money to lock up support around the state. It’s really about being a united voice that can have a say in the process of selecting a candidate, even if the nomination eventually doesn’t go to his guy, asserts Kuffner. “The ultimate goal,” he said, “is replacing our existing Senator.”
Gardner Selby at the AAS has a big write-up today, State lawmaker eyes U.S. Senate bid.
After training soldiers in Afghanistan and sheltering hurricane survivors in Texas, Rick Noriega is eyeing a potentially tougher grind: unseating Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn next year.
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Noriega said that if he runs, he’ll talk up the idea of Americans committing to public service: “The question becomes: What do we do individually to ensure that we as a nation are on the right path?”
Via Draft Rick Noriega thy have a link to a letter from 49 of the 68 Democratic state house members that are endorsing him. Go check it out and sign up to show your support.