Maybe I'm wrong about Obama and Texas

After I wrote this, then the campaign appeared to take my challenge and made several promising announcements about moving staff into and spending money in the Lone Star.

Obama's 50-state strategy, (Obama campaign manager David Plouffe) said, is designed to help the party increase its majority on Capitol Hill and to try to regain control of state legislatures, including Texas, where the Democrats need to pick up just five House seats to control the chamber.

Another goal is to force the Republicans to spend money in "red" states so they have less available for swing states.

Obama's aides told the Houston Chronicle that the Texas expenditures could increase party turnout in targeted races such as Harris County district attorney, sheriff and county judge.

The national campaign's presence in the state also could help Democrats in closely watched Houston-area congressional races for the seats of incumbent Democrat Nick Lampson and Republican Michael McCaul.

"It'll help us create a government majority," said Plouffe. "In a state like Texas, there's House races, there's state Senate races, and we're going to encourage people to get involved in their local elections."

In Texas, for instance, Obama’s three dozen offices were overrun with volunteers during the primary; the campaign’s challenge is, in part, to find something useful to do with all that free labor. But, while Hildebrand said Obama is unlikely to pay for television advertising outside a core of about 15 states the candidate thinks he can win, he will spend some money on staff. Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, reportedly told donors in Houston that he would send 15 staffers to Texas, and the campaign has committed to having some staff on the ground in all 50 states.

Harris County Democratic Party Chairman Gerald Birnberg said his ears perked up when Axelrod brought up, without being asked, redistricting after the 2010 Census.

"He said they were acutely aware that 2010 will be a redistricting year and that Texas presents some real opportunities."

Estimates are that Texas will gain four or five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives at the expense of northern states because of population growth.

That last part is emphasized because it means that, as a result of the 2010 census, the Lone Star adds Congressional districts -- likely Austin, San Antone, and a couple each in D-FW and Houston. Those districts get drawn by the majority in Austin, as Casey reminded re: DeLay.

I think fifteen staffers in Texas is -- well, something at least. Emphasis on voter registration is slightly disappointing, because of what Greg Palast has uncovered regarding state voter registrars' ability to throw out new registrations. You know if you read here regularly that countering voter suppression is much higher on my personal priority list.

And finally, if they're going to train a bunch of people here and then send them out to Virginia and Michigan and Nevada then I fail to see the positive impact on Texas.

But I will hold off for the moment on being a grouch, subject to how well the Obama campaign's words match their deeds.

11-10.

What a ballgame last night.

The home team overcame deficits of 4-0 and 9-6, then hung on in the ninth to win. They held Man-Ram nearly hitless but couldn't get Dustin Pedroia out. They rocked Bosox starter Jon Lester -- particularly Mark Loretta, who hit the first pitch he saw out of the park, after Lester had gotten struck on a comebacker and limped around the mound before resuming. They blasted reliever Manny Delcarmen in the eighth, in particular Lance Berkman, who had whiffed three times against Lester but turned around as a left-hander and delivered the game-winner.

Delcarmen entered in the eighth ("a short inning and I probably would have gone out for the ninth") and that dominance didn't last another batter. Ty Wigginton, the former Tampa Bay Ray, led off the bottom of the eighth with a tying, opposite-field home run, and Lance Berkman, who had been tied up in knots by Jon Lester in whiffing his first three at-bats, sliced an opposite-field, two-run double to climax an improbable comeback.

"I just looked at the video," Delcarmen said. "The pitch to Wigginton was away, and he just got his bat out there. When he hit it, I thought there was no way it had the height to go out. A 3-and-2 pitch, I didn't want to walk him with anything offspeed."

Darin Erstad followed by lining a pinch single ("A hanging curveball," said Delcarmen), and Brad Ausmus, the Dartmouth grad, showed that at 39 he can still drop down a bunt, sacrificing Erstad to second after being sent to pinch hit by manager Cecil Cooper.

Delcarmen struck out Michael Bourn, but walked Hunter Pence before Berkman delivered.

"We made some mistakes out over the plate and we about paid for every one of them," said Sox manager Terry Francona.

A full house of 43,000+ fans, split pretty evenly, screamed and chanted and stood throughout the ninth, yelling with the strikeout of Manny by Astros closer Jose Valverde, groaning with the Crawford Boxes home run shot by Mike Lowell, and rejoicing on the K's of Kevin Youkilis and Jason Varitek.

The pre-game New England buffet, complete with brats and chowdah and prime rib and Italian sausage and pasta and baked beans and Boston creme pie -- was very nearly as spectacular as the baseball playing.

If you have a ticket to this afternoon's matinee, you can't do much better than what we did last night for food, fun and games.

Sunday Funnies

Of FISA and diverticula

The BooMan with the executive summary:

Paraphrased (and disguised) from a Capitol Hill source:

1. There will be no FISA votes before recess.

2. We will have the FISA vote on Tuesday July 8th, which will feature an up or down vote on Dodd/Feingold amendment to strip out retroactive immunity.

3. Senator Dodd will be controlling the 2-hour debate time leading up to the debate on the Dodd/Feingold amendment with Senator Leahy getting 10 mins.

4. Following the votes on amendment(s) there will be another cloture vote.

5. Prior to the cloture vote, there will be up to 60 minutes for debate equally divided and controlled between the Leaders or their designees, with Senator Leahy controlling 10 minutes. Senator Feingold will control an additional 30 minutes and Senator Dodd will control an additional 15 minutes.

Between now and July 8th we must work a miracle. We have won a temporary reprieve. Now is not the time for complaining but for organizing. Suggestions?

Well, Tuesday July 8th is my 50th birthday, so my suggestion is that we all celebrate it this way:

So here's a fantastic opportunity to talk to your Senators, when they're home for the most patriotic of all holidays, about what this bill means to you as a constitutent. If they're having town meetings, please attend and bring up the bill, or try to schedule individual meetings with them.

Senator Tamaulipeca Jacket -- 202-224-2934 -- and Senator Perjury Technicality -- 202-224-5922.

In other 50-year-old news, I had my colonscopy yesterday morning, causing me to miss the TexBlogPAC event, complete with VIPs. (Had I attended I would've urged Chris Bell to run for state Senator.)

But instead I enjoyed a little Demerol -- it really relieved the lingering pain in my shoulder from the adhesive capsulitis I have been suffering from -- and looked at teevee pictures of the inside of myself. The colon (well, mine, anyway) is not gray or blue but actually orange, which is why, as part of the preparations for the event, I was instructed not to eat anything red or orange in color. It's bad enough being limited to clear broths, but green Jell-O? The grape popsicles were good though.

Because my maternal grandfather died of colon cancer, in his sixties -- he passed away three weeks before I was born, which if you've been keeping up is almost precisely fifty years ago -- it's been a good idea for people in my family to have this routine screening performed, as suggested by the medical advisors, at age 50 and at subsequent intervals thereafter as determined. Sure enough, I had one small polyp which was removed and two diverticula, which earned me a scolding about fiber in my diet. I'll call in about a week after they biopsy the polyp for results.

The most painful thing was actually the MoviPrep taken before and the bloating immediately after. The procedure itself was unremarkable.

We're good to go for the Red Sox-Astros this weekend, and the special Boston buffet being served at the ballpark. It's going to take a lot of eating to refill that 23 feet of lower intestine, after all.

Now go back and click on all those links up there, and read them each thoroughly.