Lubbock Left

Save the date now for Saturday, January 23 — Lubbock County Democratic Party is offering a day filled with once-in-a-lifetime events!

The day kicks off with a region-wide meeting of college-age Democrats. At 11:00am at the Science Spectrum (use the South entrance off 74th St), the Coalition of West Texas Democrats hosts a meeting for college and university students from throughout the region. Johnnie Jones, president of the Coalition, will discuss grassroots campaigning and networking. At 12:00, gubernatorial candidate Bill White will join students for pizza, discussion, and informal Q&A.

At 1:30pm, in the same meeting room at the Science Spectrum, the Texas Observer party begins. The managing editor of the magazine and several reporters will be on hand to give their insights. This will be a fantastic event, and I will blog more about the details of it as the date approaches.

There will also be a press conference in the same meeting room at 3:00pm. Democratic candidates attending the banquet will be available to the press. All the statewide candidates will arrive at 3:00.

That same evening, the Lubbock Democratic Candidates Banquet is taking place:

Saturday, January 23, 2010
6:30-10:00 pm
McInturff Center
602 Indiana, Lubbock
$60/ticket

A ticket includes beer and wine, a buffet dinner, and the chance to listen to strong and clear voices of reason! This is the Party’s big annual fundraiser, and it covers many of our vital expenses throughout the year.

Candidates coming to the event are:

Gov.: Bill White, Felix Alvarado, Farouk Shami; U.S. Senate: John Sharp; Attorney General: Barbara Ann Radnofsky; Ag Commissioner: Hank Gilbert and Kinky Friedman; Texas Supreme Court: Bill Moody #5 and Blake Bailey #9; U.S. Congress #19: Andy Wilson; Texas Rep #85: Joe Heflin; Texas Rep #84: Carol Morgan.

If you want banquet tickets, call Democratic Party HQ (2809A 74th St) at 749-8683 or I’m happy to sell you some. Leave a note in the comments and I’ll contact you via email. You can also purchase them online via actblue.

Remember: Saturday, January 23 will be a very full day for Democratic politics in Lubbock!

Later today, Andy Wilson will announce his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination for Congress in Texas 19th District, currently held by Randy “Birther Bill” Neugebauer. The announcement will take place at 3pm at the Mahon Library Community Room.

Who: Anyone looking for a change in TX-19
What: Andy Wilson Congressional Campaign Announcement
When: Monday 11/2 3:00pm
Where: Mahon Library, 1306 9th St
Why: To show support for a change in TX-19, and to learn more about an exciting candidate!

Please attend if you can!

Finally, a candidate for Governor that I can be excited about!

Hank Gilbert, East Texas rancher and former Democratic candidate for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, sent an email to his supporters yesterday pre-announcing his run for Governor. (The official announcement is coming September 21st, according to the email.)

In the 2006 campaign for Ag Commissioner, Hank drove all over the state of Texas in his pickup to get in front of as many voters as possible. He made it up to Lubbock as well (always earning points in my book — statewide candidates don’t always stop here), and I remember being impressed not only by his stump speech but also by his obvious ability to connect with people. He’s a true populist, working especially hard to create and enhance co-op and other community organizations that help ordinary folks. He was also a prominent figure in the fight against the trans-Texas corridor.

If you’re so inclined, you can donate to Hank Gilbert’s campaign via ActBlue. Money is the only obstacle between Hank and an effective run for Governor — he’s got what it takes as a candidate. Hank’s goal is to raise $100,000 between now and then to show his viability. In true populist fashion, he begins with $0 in the campaign coffers. :P

Also, A-J correspondent Enrique Rangel covered Hank Gilbert’s announcement yesterday afternoon (soon after the email went out).

Learn more about Hank Gilbert at his website HankGilbert.com.

Because I was traveling again this weekend sans internet, I’ve gone dark like Palin (but not hiking the Appalachian Trail like Sanford). I’m back once more.

I had some time to catch up on reading while traveling. One of the books that has fascinated me is No One Was Killed: The Democratic National Convention, August 1968 by John Schultz. It’s an on-the-ground account of the unrest in the streets and in the convention hall at one of the most historic moments for the Democratic Party.

The reason I’m fascinated with the 1968 Convention (and the 1968 election in general) is that the leadership of the Democratic Party failed at pretty much every level it could fail. Every major presidential candidate — or almost-candidate in the case of LBJ — had critical flaws in their campaign. The Party insiders who ran the convention clearly got it wrong by deliberately thwarting the will of the electorate. Even the activists from all corners of the Left got their method wrong in some important way.

But, in the aftermath of that failure, the seeds were sown for a better, more “little-d democratic” Democratic Party. More primaries, more elected positions, and more people-powered participation became the trend after 1968. It wasn’t a quick or easy process, but 40 years later look where we are.

In the 2008 Democratic Primary, pundits predicted a terrible split in the Democratic Party, even a showdown in Denver. But this time, the process worked; the Party leadership worked. The ‘08 primary was grueling and lengthy, but we ended up uniting behind a winning candidate who reflects the values of the Democratic Party.

In their own way, the GOP has their own 1968-Chicago problem in miniature. They have a winner-take-all delegate allocation system in the state primaries. And remember the parallel convention held by Ron Paul supporters in St. Paul? Today’s GOP has a long way to go to make their Party more “little-d democratic.”

I was born over a decade after the events of the 1968 convention, so it’s important to me to study this history to see how we got where we are today. I believe strongly that Obama’s Grant Park celebration in 2008 would make the demonstrators in that same park 40 years ago very proud. The hippies and the yippies and the Mobe and the SDS and all the rest of the New Left may not have won the day in 1968, but they started a process through their actions and through their discussions with delegates (after finally getting their attention!) that allowed the Democratic Party to evolve to a higher level of representation and effectiveness.

Lone Star Project brings us the good news that “Democrats in Texas now have a slight advantage in party identification, 43% to 41%, a clear reversal from the recent past.”

From LSP:

LSP goes on to point out that we’ve closed the gap in the TX House to 2 seats and defeated an incumbent Republican State Senator for the first time in a decade.

2010 is our year to turn Texas blue!

As the year winds down, I think it’s worth taking some time to reflect on some of the achievements of the Lubbock County Democratic Party in 2008:

• At least 16 new people have come forward to be precinct chairs. Precinct Chair is the most important job in the Party, if you ask me. They are all movers and shakers, people who turn out the votes and — even in the off-season — make the party run. Moreover, we basically have 50% more precinct chairs than we did at this time last year. That’s real growth!
• Regular HQ volunteers have been putting in great work. Democratic Party HQ is open weekdays and saturdays. These volunteers are also performing one of the most important tasks we have: data entry.
• Record Primary and Convention Turnout. In Lubbock County in 2008, more people voted in the Democratic Party Primary than the Republican Party Primary. This has never happened in my lifetime. We had correspondingly huge turnouts at our Precinct, County, and State Conventions. (The TX State Convention had more delegates than the national convention, FYI.)
• At least 150 people were directly involved in the election process by phone banking, putting up signs, serving on the Signature Verification Committee and Ballot Board, and becoming poll watchers.
• Lubbock Democrats were very visible in 2008. We distributed about 1,500 Obama/Biden signs, participated in 4th on Broadway, the Fiesta parade, and had a TDW / Democratic Party booth at the South Plains Fair. We also hosted local and state candidates with meet-and-greet events.
• Four Debate Watch Parties! These debate watch parties are legendary enough to get their own mention on the list. We hosted a party for each Presidential Debate and the VP debate, filling Murphy’s Pub to capacity each time.
• We also hosted an election night party, attended by over 450 people with live coverage on two television channels.

Fellow Democrats, let’s take a moment to reflect and celebrate.

Ahhh. Nice!

The Lubbock County Democratic Party will host an election night victory party downtown at the Baker Building, which is on 13th street between Ave K and Ave L.  The party gets started around 8pm, and we’ll be watching the returns from all over the USA as well as our local results.

See you there!

Are you looking for an easy way to help Lubbock Democrats win in November?

This year, Lubbock County Democrats are undertaking an epic phone banking effort.

To that end, the Party is holding daily phone bank workshops at noon at Party HQ, 2809A 74th St (behind Furr’s and the Science Spectrum). The 30-minute trainings are led by the indefatigable Sue W, who knows what the hell she is doing when it comes to organizing and GOTV.

Free phone bank training every day.

Thousands of opportunities to contact Lubbock Democrats and turn them out to vote.

No excuses!

I had a lot of fun at tonight’s debate watch party at Murphy’s. Big hello to everyone I got to meet tonight!

Rumor has it that the local Republicans had to switch venues because of some bad behavior at their VP debate watch party last week.

Another rumor is that the Republican watch party at their new venue was very under-attended tonight. I heard 20 people or so. We had 50-80 at our party. PLUS the Texas Tech Democrats had their own watch party elsewhere, and that organization is HUGE this year.

Looking forward to the final debate! (There will, of course, be another Democratic watch party at Murphy’s for it.)

edit: Local ABC affiliate KAMC-28 had good coverage of both debate watch parties.

Back by popular demand. The Lubbock County Democratic Party will sponsor another Debate Watch Party this Tuesday.

DEBATE WATCH PARTY
7:00 pm (debate starts at 8:00)
Tuesday, October 7

Murphy’s Irish Pub
3502 Slide Road

Come share the experience with fellow Democrats.

Judging by the experience of last time, we should pick a word other than “maverick” for drinking a shot…

…you know, for safety.