DNC candidates come to H-Town

They probably won't have time for any Super Bowl parties.  As a follow-up to Tuesday's post that had some thoughts on this election, I'm kinda surprised there's not more local news or even blogging about this gathering.

There will be 11 people at a DNC forum in Houston Saturday, including a new batch of lesser-known candidates.

Here's more about the event, from an e-mail by soon-to-be-former HCDP chairman, Lane Lewis.

The DNC Future Forum will be a full-day affair, with a break for lunch. The morning portion will feature opening remarks by DNC Chair Donna Brazile, Reverend Dr. William Barber, II of North Carolina, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa. There will be a polling presentation by Maria Teresa Kumar representing Voto Latino. The candidate forums, moderated by Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune, will take place during the afternoon portion of the day.

The forum will be open to the press and the public and will be livestreamed as well. Click here to access the livestream link. 

Now that the Boston Globe's lede has been exhumed, note that the reporter, James Pindell, is forecasting gloom, and maybe doom, for Dems.

Following GOP victories in the 2016 elections, Democrats have descended to their lowest levels of power in Washington, D.C., and capitals across the country since the Hoover administration. And with the Clintons and Obamas exiting the stage, there is no natural leader to take the party forward.

Unfortunately for Democrats, the race for Democratic National Committee chairman — one of the party’s most powerful open posts in D.C. — is unlikely to give much clarity to their conundrum. The DNC chairman’s race features no clear front-runner and, so far, little debate about the soul and direction of the party.

For the first time in a dozen years, there is an open race to run the party [...]

The DNC chairman’s election will be held in late February in Atlanta, and it’s really anyone’s guess who will win. Party members anticipate several rounds of ballots, during which deals will be made between the candidates until someone wins a majority.

Keith Ellison and Tom Perez, re-litigating the 2016 primary with the same hissing animosity from the Hillbots toward the Sandernistas, yaddayaddayadda.

(W)ith the Clinton/Sanders divide in the race, no candidate has been able to lock up enough votes to win. Both Ellison and Perez have endorsements from unions, governors, mayors, and senators ...

But (Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren) and other high-profile endorsers are not among the DNC’s 447 voting members — nearly half of whom are state Democratic chairs and vice chairs. The rest are mostly longtime party activists from nearly every state. Not even Bill or Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama gets a vote.

“Endorsements don’t mean anything unless they are from voting members,” said Elaine Kamarck, an at-large DNC voting member who is backing Perez. “I don’t think anyone has a really good read on this race right now.”

According to internal counts from three of the campaigns, roughly 150 members have committed to a candidate — and the rest of the votes are up for grabs. 

My state senator Borris Miles is hosting a reception this evening for Ellison at his cigar bar, Our Legends.  (You might need your invite for this; while it opens occasionally for political events, it is private membership only.)  Claude Cummings of the CWA has endorsed Ellison as well.  Update: Bobby Cervantes at the Chron sees Miles' predecessor and now Harris commissioner, Rodney Ellis, former Bayou City Mayor Annise Parker, and a handful of others falling in behind Perez.  This is a good litmus test for real (Dem) progs versus alt-progs.

Once more, you can sign up to attend this forum at the Granville M. Sawyer Auditorium on the campus of Texas Southern University tomorrow -- note as indicated at the top, it lasts all day but the candidates won't be appearing until after lunch -- at this link.  No charge but you must RSVP, and seating is first come, first served.  It'll probably be a full house.

In addition to Ellison and Perez, the field includes Sally Boynton Brown, the executive director of the Idaho Democratic Party; Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind.; Jehmu Greene, a Fox News analyst; Raymond Buckley, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party; and Jaime Harrison, chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party.

That field is nothing if not diverse. Among the candidates are an African-American man, an African-American woman, an African-American who is Muslim, a white woman, a Hispanic man, and two gay white men.

[...]

“It is important that we don’t try to control the chaos,” Brown said.

Let's hear for it chaos, everybody!

Who do you think El Patron de la Partido Democratico de Tejas is supporting?  Probably has nothing to do with la raza.  I've given ol' Gil a bad time for a long time, and he has honestly earned every bit of it (to say nothing of the ill repute he's dishonestly earned).

As a former Democrat, I have no horse in this race.  But my space is reserved and I'll be live-Tweeting the proceedings.