Friday, February 23, 2018

Thanks, DCCC!

Your smearing of Laura Moser last evening may have just pushed her into the runoff.


For those still not operating in the Twitterverse, the #TX07 hashtag trended briefly nationwide as reactions to this (first, I believe) from the TexTrib's Abby Livingston:


Livingston's report posted shortly thereafter led with the details:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee posted negative research on Moser, a Houston journalist vying among six other Democrats in the March 6 primary to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. John Culberson. Democrats locally and nationally have worried that Moser is too liberal to carry a race that has emerged in recent months as one of the most competitive races in the country.

The DCCC posting, which features the kind of research that is often reserved for Republicans, notes that Moser only recently moved back to her hometown of Houston and that much of her campaign fundraising money has gone to her husband's political consulting firm. It also calls her a "Washington insider."

But DCCC spokeswoman Meredith Kelly went even further in a statement to The Texas Tribune.

"Voters in Houston have organized for over a year to hold Rep. Culberson accountable and win this Clinton district," Kelly said.

Then, referring to a 2014 Washingtonian magazine piece in which Moser wrote that she would rather have a tooth pulled without anesthesia than move to Paris, Texas, Kelly added:"Unfortunately, Laura Moser’s outright disgust for life in Texas disqualifies her as a general election candidate, and would rob voters of their opportunity to flip Texas’ 7th in November.”

And it was on like Donkey Kong from there.  Go read a sampling of top Tweets here.  The geek fighting kept going for a few hours after dinnertime.  Samples:










That's probably enough for you to get the gist.  Scroll down in my own Tweetfeed, top right column, for some of my responses.

I have my doubts as to whether a lack of desire to live in Paris, TX can be extrapolated to the entire state, just for openers in rebutting the DCCC's projecting "outright disgust" onto Moser's reticence to live in one of her ancestors' homes.  I'm just supposin' here, but maybe somebody at the DCCC doesn't really know that Paris is a kind of a long way from the Seventh.  And if they think not wanting to live there is bad, then perhaps the good folks who are responsible for getting Blue Dogs elected to Congress might relocate -- just for a few months -- to Vidor, or Jasper, or one of East Texas' other garden spots.

This move was telegraphed earlier in the day in Tilove's 'First Reading' blog at the Statesman by none other than the keynote speaker for the Harris County Democratic Party's big fundraising dinner (just last week).  It was quickly followed up by this account in The Intercept about Emily's List, endorser of union-busting law firm attorney Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, launching their own broadside against Moser.  The reveal:

“Alex T(riantaphyllis) has been open about being the chosen candidate of the [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee],” said Daniel Cohen, president of Indivisible Houston, who is not endorsing any particular candidate. (The DCCC has not officially endorsed a candidate in the primary, though its support can come in less public ways.)

Moser is hosting actress and Democratic activist Alyssa Milano this weekend for what will now be a much larger and more engaged rally than it would have been just 24 hours ago.

So with Harris County turnout already surging and media attention to the CD-07 race going national, we're headed for a rip-roaring finish to the wildest Democratic Congressional primary I can recall.

I'll be onboard for the full ride.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I believe your header & lede hit the proverbial nail on its proverbial head. This kerfuffle has certainly raised Ms. Moser's profile a notch or two. It'll be interesting to hear her take in the wake of it.

8:22 AM
Anonymous said...

Ooh, look who else picked up the story! Lee Fang et al in The Intercept.

9:47 AM

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