It's not just about Wendy any more

Bless her heart (and I don't mean it in that condescending southern Christian way, either).

In just a few weeks, the Wendy Davis phenomenon has grown exponentially. She is no longer just a rising star in the Democratic Party constellation. She has risen. Democrats in Washington, in Texas and around the nation, marshaled by female activists, are clamoring for her to run for governor in 2014 — no matter that her chances of winning are slim in a state that has not elected a Democratic chief executive in more than 20 years. 

I think she's more like a supernova.

“I want Wendy Davis to run for governor,” Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand of New York told me on Friday. Ms. Gillibrand, who won re-election by a landslide last November, is undeterred by speculation that Ms. Davis cannot win in Texas. She believes that even if Ms. Davis were to lose the race, she would still command a big platform in the nation’s second-largest state, one that would reverberate nationwide, to discuss tough issues like women’s reproductive health, abortion rights, education, jobs and the middle class. “She will elevate the conversation.” 

2014 is finally going to be the Year of the Woman (or female political candidate, as it were).

See, the thing is that Sen. Davis simply cannot say she's not going to run for governor now. She's being compelled to run -- pulled to it by forces within both political parties. The Republican insider POV...

(T)he real winner of Sen. Davis’ decision to run for Governor are Texas Democrats. Without her, they have no credible statewide candidate in 2014. With her, they will likely find other credible Democrats willing to step out and run statewide. She will also provide a race that Battleground Texas, the Obama campaign’s effort to turn Texas blue, can organize around. Finally, she will likely boost Democratic turnout in urban counties such as Dallas and Harris helping down ballot Democrats running for county and judicial offices.

Sen. Davis’ race for Governor is a win for Texas Democrats. It remains to be seen whether it will ultimately be a win for Sen. Davis.

Now I doubt whether Robert Miller has any good Democratic insider information about a decision Wendy Davis has not made yet and won't make for a few more weeks. But he has read the tea leaves accurately in this case. More...

And regardless of whether she wins in 2014, Texas Democrats will be happy to have Davis at the top of their ticket, says Ross Ramsey at The Texas Tribune. They are mostly hoping that she has "some political magic, and that it's contagious" — that the presence of a relatively famous, beloved-by-Democrats candidate for governor will draw other credible candidates statewide and "attract voters who might influence other races below the statewide level."

The "pundits and other self-appointed experts" are hoping Davis jumps in, too, Ramsey adds. "For sheer political theater, a governor's race that includes Davis would be a lot more interesting than one with a very well-financed Republican candidate and no Democrats, which is what the ballot looks like now."

Even Republicans seem kind of excited about the prospect of Davis running for governor. She isn't very popular in GOP circles, and the idea of defeating her must hold some appeal.

We're past the point of no return. For there to be any kind of immediate future for Texas Democrats, she can't take a pass. Davis bears the weight of the entire Texas Democratic Party, some of the burden of other beleaguered Democrats in southern states, and by extension a small portion of the national party's 2014 electoral prospects. That is one heavy lift.

As the saying goes, Democrats have to fall in love with a candidate (while Republicans just fall in line), and everybody loves Wendy. If she decides she's not going to go for it and run for re-election to her state Senate seat instead, all the helium screams out of her balloon. And everybody else's, for that matter. Greg Abbott's bank account, a red-ass exurban/rural Texas, and salivating Republicans holding smears at the ready are the least of her concerns now. She sets Texas back another decade -- not to mention her own political prospects -- if she won't pick up the gauntlet.

There is officially too much at stake for her, Democrats, the state of Texas, and (yes, even) the nation if she chooses not to make a bid for the governor's mansion. I just don't see her backing away from that fight. That's not who she is, not who she has demonstrated herself to be.

It's fait accompli at this point.

Update: Thanks to Daily Kos and Crooks and Liars for helping spread the word. Back to you, Senator Davis.

Annise Parker takes off the gloves

And gives Ben Hall a beating.



Like everybody else, I thought that Hall's introductory video was weird and slightly obnoxious, but I have to say that I didn't expect the response from the mayor to be so harsh.

For the record let's note that we rarely see an incumbent with such a strong opening hand lash back at a fairly weak (yet coffer-filled) challenger like this. I don't think Parker is nervous about Hall after all of his missteps, but this response signals she's not going to take any chances. So does this, quoting from yesterday's presser and apparently before the above spot made its appearance...

"Mr. Hall hasn't been a Houstonian very long, and he has very little name ID. He has to (make a large advertising buy) to introduce himself to Houstonians, and pretty soon I'm going to help him."

Hall's rejoinder -- from the inbox yesterday afternoon -- makes it look as if he's girded for battle.

Well we knew this day would come. We knew Annise Parker would be terrified of a candidate in this race with real leadership and vision, and we knew she would go on the attack.

Today the incumbent’s campaign launched an attack ad questioning my dedication to the city of Houston and ignoring what I’ve done as city attorney and fighting for justice in my private practice.

Let me be clear: Annise Parker will fund this ad and more like it with the millions she’s raised from those benefiting from taxpayer-funded contracts and special interests from out of state. [...]

Annise Parker doesn’t just campaign like a typical professional politician -- she governs like one too. Houston is just learning about the huge raises worth tens of thousands of dollars she gave to her closest advisers after laying off nearly 750 city workers. She put the rest of the municipal workforce on furloughs (with an exception for her own staff).

And now the same politician who fired city workers while padding her close advisers’ pockets is questioning my love for this city? It’s absurd.

This is the first in what will likely be a campaign full of attacks against me. I don’t mind it -- I can take whatever she can dish out...

Blah blah give me money to fight back blah blah.

Campaigns usually reach this stage in late October, not in mid-August. It's nice to see the two front-runners are in championship form with regard to their rapid response. And I suppose we can expect the carpet-bombings on the airwaves to continue until the outside temperatures around here begin to cool off. Or morale improves.

As for those of us who track these developments, Neil's already disgusted.

84 days before the November 5 Election Day, incumbent Mayor Annise Parker and top challenger Ben Hall are polluting the public airwaves and public debate with negative advertising and attacks in the campaign for Mayor of Houston.

I know this is how it is done and how it has often been done in American history. But just because things are normally done in a certain way does not mean you can't move ahead in a different fashion.

I'm really enjoying my brother's direction with his new effort.

In any case, anybody who has had the misfortune of following Houston politics knows how this will all go---

Mayor Parker and Mr. Hall will spend a lot of money. Much of this money will come from big companies and the rich. Issues of poverty and social justice in Houston will be ignored. Turnout will be 15%-20% of eligible adults. There will be ceaseless negative ads and many of them will be stupid. Neither candidate will get 50% of the vote on Election Day and so we will be subjected to more weeks of campaigning with a runoff vote.

None of this reflects the values of hopeful people. Not much of it reflects anything of value to the people of Houston. Mayor Parker and Mr. Hall will go at it and people will tune it out or just think of both of them as equally bad. Only a small percentage of Houstonians will bother to vote.

Without forgetting the many volunteers each campaign will have of committed everyday people, none of this will inspire people to take action for themselves and with others to offer alternatives from the bottom and middle up to a failed and corporate-bought political system.

I'm on the e-mail list of both the Hall and Parker campaigns. Just today I've received three negative e-mails from these two campaigns. I've resolved today that I'm going to donate 25 cents to Amnesty International for every negative e-mail I get from Parker and Hall.

I won't say "this is going to be fun to watch", because it won't be. Houston deserves better than this. We just stand no chance of getting it.

Around the horn: Stace was first with the ad and the quote from the presser. Noah has a good take on this "attack-back" strategy, and Texas Leftist covered the press conference yesterday where Mayor Parker announced she was coming to the rescue of the Thanksgiving Day Parade (with a little help from her deep-pocketed friends).

More as it develops, and if it's not too nasty. Not interested in documenting every salvo fired from these two. Maybe some of the second-tier candidates can offer something more positive in the days to come.

The Water Wars are coming

Not Texas versus Mexico, or even Texas versus New Mexico. But West Texans against the frackers.

Fracking (and the drought) are winning, and Texans are losing.

How dry is it in Texas? So dry some residents are wishing for a hurricane to replenish the aquifer. So dry that many Texans are now against using water to frack for oil, which is famously called Texas Tea.

Every fracking job requires several million gallons of water. “Only about 20 percent to 25 percent on average of the water is recovered, while the rest disappears underground, never to be seen again.” Fracking is probably not the wisest use of water anywhere, but in a drought it’s downright self-destructive.

Update: More from Daily Kos, AMERICAblog, and Texas Monthly with some photos.