07.04.09

Ronnie Earle is causing a stir

Posted in 2010 Primary, Around The State, Election 2010, Good Stuff, Take Action at 10:29 am by wcnews

Ronnie Earle filed the papers to run for a statewide office on Thursday, Earle a step closer to making run for governor.

Former Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle inched closer to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor Thursday when he filed a one-page form with the Texas Ethics Commission designating himself as his campaign treasurer.

Markos weighs in on Earle running for governor in Texas, Ronnie Earle moves toward gubernatorial run.

Earle is the first serious Democrat to consider a gubernatorial bid, and given his cred with Democratic voters, he should motivate many to participate in the Democratic primary.

This is extra relevant because Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is hoping to attract Democratic and independent support in her own GOP gubernatorial primary against incumbent Gov. Rick Perry. Texas primaries are open.

But with Democrats suddenly having a relevant primary of their own, that narrows Hutchison’s potential voter pool considerably. And with Perry doing a bang-up job of building allegiance among the teabagging/secessionist crowd, Hutchison’s job would get a lot more difficult.

Burka thinks Earle can’t win, oh well, who would have guessed?

He won’t get a single Republican crossover vote. Republicans don’t believe that Earle was a fair prosecutor as head of the Travis County Public Integrity Unit, which has responsibility for overseeing ethics issues at the Capitol. I did think that he was fair….

[…]

The point is, Earle has zero crossover appeal, and the Democrats must field a candidate who can win over Republicans who are not enamored of Rick Perry

That shouldn’t surprise anyone, Burka can’t see past the insiderbuzz many times. If it was up to him, Craddick would still be speaker, as McBlogger points out, Draft Earle : But Paul, we want to win this time!

Which is funny coming from someone like Paul ‘There’s No Way Craddick Loses The Speakership’ Burka. Now, we all make mistakes from time to time and I’m no exception. However, instead of focusing on the future and what’s possible, Burka focuses on an old battle, namely Earle vs. Hutchison.

[…]

Further, there is once again this idea that Democrats need a moderate, Republican-lite candidate who can convince middle aged white guys in the burbs to vote for a Democrat. We’ve been trying that for the better part of a decade and hasn’t worked. The current crop of candidates in the D primary don’t have that combination of balls to the wall brilliance and, in equal measure, grit that sells with Texas voters. Real Texans have been voting for faux Texans for so long, when they see the real thing they’ll jump at the opportunity to support them. And that, my friends, is Ronnie Earle, a Democrat who’s fiscally conservative, socially libertarian just like the majority of Texans.

[…]

I’ve been a part of a statewide race. I know what works and what doesn’t. I’ve seen overfunded candidates lose worse than my guy who was outspent more than 22:1. Needless to say, you learn pretty early on that candidate selection is the important part of a campaign. Oh, sure, money and organization are essential but the initial decision is THE single most important. It’s the equivalent of ‘making your money on the buy’ when flipping a house.

There is such a thing as a natural and Ronnie Earle is one of them. The rest of the players on the field may be impressive in their own spheres, but they suck in this one. Statewide races require a hell of a lot more.

The other thing that Burka is missing is that the self-identifying GOP vote in this state is not what is used to be, (25% in the recent Lyceum poll). And that Earle/KBH court battle was 16 years ago, many have forgotten about that fight or weren’t here when it happened. The battle will be over the ever increasing majority of Independent voters in Texas, not Republicans, which Burka recently noted.

This is the problem for Democrats. Independent voters are leaving the Republican party. They see themselves as independents. They’re angry at their old party, but the Democrats have not been able to win over the

It seems possible that many Texans would be willing to give a candidate a look that’s not the same ‘ol GOP corporate shill or the same mushy-middle Democrat that’s been running for governor in the recent past in Texas. Earle brings assets to the table that none of the Democrats in the race thus far come close to having. Be sure and jump on board at draftronnie.com.

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