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Friday, May 13, 2005
Chris Bell Meets with Leaders in Dallas
I got a rare inside look at how campaigns work in their early phases during the day Tuesday as I drove Chris Bell around Dallas for four meetings with important Dallas Democrats. Dallas County Democrats are in a good position having won a county-wide race in 2004. So these top Democratic leaders have had a taste of victory and are eager to expand upon it.
While all of the leaders agreed that a run for Texas governor would be tough, especially considering the fact that Democrats have not won a state-wide race since 1994, they were very receptive to Chris Bell's ideas and wanted to learn more about his candidacy. Bell's reputation as the man who stood up to Tom DeLay when he filed an ethics complaint in 2004 preceded him, but one thing that Congressmen learn when they run for governor (especially in Texas where there are 35 House members) is that you are not famous yet and you have to make your case one person at a time.
Bell is still exploring a run and he has not officially declared his candidacy, though he expects to do so in July. When I asked him how he thought Dallas had received him, he was very positive and he thought that the meetings went very well.
The Dallas Democratic leaders consistently diagnosed the Party's problems in the same way that the Bell campaign has. This is a good sign for an exploratory campaign. It shows that he might be tapping into the tremendous--albeit often disorganized--energy of grassroots Democrats across the state. I consistently heard them reject previous state-wide campaign efforts in recent years as being without backbone--or "Republican-lite." We need a candidate who will stand up for the fundamental values of progressive politics. Bell's vision of the "New Mainstream" coupled with the argument that "budgets are moral documents" involving moral choices will create a stark difference between Bell and his conservative opponent. But because his is a message of hope, Texans of all political stripes will be willing to hear it. As Howard Dean said back in the fall, what matters for citizens is that they see a candidate with "deep conviction" rather than a focus-group tested set of shifting positions that change with the latest polling numbers. Democratic leaders understand that and they are looking for someone who fits the bill. That puts Bell in a good position for a run.
The second thing I heard in these meetings is a deep concern about the direction of our state since Republicans took over in 1994. Though most Texans do not know it or do not want to hear it, our state is in crisis. We are first in the nation in percentage of people without health insurance. We are ninth in rate of disease per 100,000 people. First in predatory mortgage lending. First in the amount of toxic emissions from manufacturing facilities. First in the number of traffic fatalities. Dead last in homeowner’s insurance affordability. These are just a few of our problems. You can find 14 pages of statistics like this in a report entitled Texas on the Brink. The Democratic leaders consistently mentioned this report as a blueprint for building a sturdy critique of Rick Perry and the crumbling Texas Republican governance. Bell shared with them that this is not the Texas that he grew up in and that it is time to be proud of our state once again. To do that, we must have visionary leadership.
When he spoke to a standing room only crowd at the Dallas Young Democrats on Tuesday, he laid out a bold challenge echoing John Kennedy. When Kennedy proclaimed that we would land a man on the moon "before the decade is out" in the early 1960s, said Bell, "he had no scientific basis for his challenge," just a commitment to taking on enormous challenges and to inspire people to strive for more. Following in that tradition, Bell proclaimed, “Texas will have the best public educational system in the country in ten years."
In a year in which the Texas legislature is expected not to pass a school finance reform bill--but found the time to address cheerleader dance moves--Bell is on the right track.
The Dallas Young Democrats thank Chris Bell for taking the time to speak to our group. He was very well received and he energized our group.
[Full disclosure: I am interested in working for the Chris Bell campaign.]
While all of the leaders agreed that a run for Texas governor would be tough, especially considering the fact that Democrats have not won a state-wide race since 1994, they were very receptive to Chris Bell's ideas and wanted to learn more about his candidacy. Bell's reputation as the man who stood up to Tom DeLay when he filed an ethics complaint in 2004 preceded him, but one thing that Congressmen learn when they run for governor (especially in Texas where there are 35 House members) is that you are not famous yet and you have to make your case one person at a time.
Bell is still exploring a run and he has not officially declared his candidacy, though he expects to do so in July. When I asked him how he thought Dallas had received him, he was very positive and he thought that the meetings went very well.
The Dallas Democratic leaders consistently diagnosed the Party's problems in the same way that the Bell campaign has. This is a good sign for an exploratory campaign. It shows that he might be tapping into the tremendous--albeit often disorganized--energy of grassroots Democrats across the state. I consistently heard them reject previous state-wide campaign efforts in recent years as being without backbone--or "Republican-lite." We need a candidate who will stand up for the fundamental values of progressive politics. Bell's vision of the "New Mainstream" coupled with the argument that "budgets are moral documents" involving moral choices will create a stark difference between Bell and his conservative opponent. But because his is a message of hope, Texans of all political stripes will be willing to hear it. As Howard Dean said back in the fall, what matters for citizens is that they see a candidate with "deep conviction" rather than a focus-group tested set of shifting positions that change with the latest polling numbers. Democratic leaders understand that and they are looking for someone who fits the bill. That puts Bell in a good position for a run.
The second thing I heard in these meetings is a deep concern about the direction of our state since Republicans took over in 1994. Though most Texans do not know it or do not want to hear it, our state is in crisis. We are first in the nation in percentage of people without health insurance. We are ninth in rate of disease per 100,000 people. First in predatory mortgage lending. First in the amount of toxic emissions from manufacturing facilities. First in the number of traffic fatalities. Dead last in homeowner’s insurance affordability. These are just a few of our problems. You can find 14 pages of statistics like this in a report entitled Texas on the Brink. The Democratic leaders consistently mentioned this report as a blueprint for building a sturdy critique of Rick Perry and the crumbling Texas Republican governance. Bell shared with them that this is not the Texas that he grew up in and that it is time to be proud of our state once again. To do that, we must have visionary leadership.
When he spoke to a standing room only crowd at the Dallas Young Democrats on Tuesday, he laid out a bold challenge echoing John Kennedy. When Kennedy proclaimed that we would land a man on the moon "before the decade is out" in the early 1960s, said Bell, "he had no scientific basis for his challenge," just a commitment to taking on enormous challenges and to inspire people to strive for more. Following in that tradition, Bell proclaimed, “Texas will have the best public educational system in the country in ten years."
In a year in which the Texas legislature is expected not to pass a school finance reform bill--but found the time to address cheerleader dance moves--Bell is on the right track.
The Dallas Young Democrats thank Chris Bell for taking the time to speak to our group. He was very well received and he energized our group.
[Full disclosure: I am interested in working for the Chris Bell campaign.]
