Bill Clinton will come to Houston on Monday, Oct. 13 to headline a fundraising event for Chris Bell, candidate in the special election for State Senate District 17.
"I am honored to have President Clinton come to Houston to help my campaign,” said Chris Bell. “It’s unusual to have a former President of the United States of America help raise money for a state legislative race, but he knows that this is an incredible opportunity to make real progress for the people of Texas.”
Ambassador Arthur Schechter will host the fundraiser at his home Monday evening. Democratic Party stalwart Bernard Rapoport will serve as “Honorary Chair” of the event. Details on getting tickets will be posted on ChrisBell.com.
This race is almost out of reach for the GOP. From the same press release:
A poll conducted by Cooper and Secrest in August showed that Chris Bell has a 34-point lead over the Republican candidates who remain clustered in a statistical tie for second place. The initial trial heat, asked of 400 likely special election voters Aug. 14-18, had Chris Bell at 42%, with Republicans Joan Huffman at 8%, Austen Furse at 5%, and Grant Harpold at 4%. A poll subsequently released by Mrs. Huffman’s own campaign confirmed Chris Bell’s standing as a frontrunner and the rest of the field’s statistical proximity to single digits.
In May, an independent poll conducted for Texans for Insurance Reform found that Chris Bell has higher name identification in SD 17 than U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. The pollster, Jeff Smith of Opinion Analysts, labeled Mr. Bell the “front-runner in a very winnable contest.”
Fifty-percent-plus-one eliminates a runoff. This race will be at the top of every ballot in the five Southeast Texas counties that get to vote on it.
In other heavyweight news flashes (pun intended, Governor Richardson), this missive from SDEC member Ron Rea contains the following announcement of events to benefit the campaign of CD-07 Democratic challenger Michael Skelly:
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will be here for a luncheon on Thursday, October 16, at a location to be announced soon.
Steny Hoyer, Member of Congress and House Whip for the Democratic Party, will be here for a breakfast event in downtown Houston on Wednesday, October 22.
A political contribution for each event is $100 per plate.
More to come on these, but worth noting is that Skelly has pulled within striking distance of incumbent John Culberson, who last Friday hosted a shooting event with John Boehner at a west side gun club.
(I mean, really; could the differences be any more stark?)
