When party lines are drawn and an election looks close, the end result often hinges on turnout. Much has been made about the enthusiasm of Obama supporters compared to the collective apathy of McCain backers. Still, the polls say it's close. Having known this all along, the Obama campaign has something up their sleeve: organizing African-American turnout. Sure, this is no secret, but will all of this organizing make a difference or is it all a mirage? The answer is, it's real.

On December 26, 2004 the water off the coasts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand began receding. Some people recognized the receding sea as a warning and headed toward higher ground. Many others oblivious to the imminent danger ventured out on to the coast to investigate the rare sight. What followed was a deadly tsunami that swept up and killed close to a quarter million people. The warning signs were there, but few too many people understood what was about to happen.

While the Texas state races are heating up, there's one national congressional seat that should be getting more attention. Democratic challenger Larry Joe Doherty looks to be making a strong contention for the seat held by incumbent congressman Michael McCaul (R) in Congressional District 10.

While the debate about our energy future rages among the Presidential candidates, a similar debate is quietly taking place here in Texas. A few weeks ago, the Governor's Competitiveness Council released a draft Texas Energy Plan to guide Texas' energy decisions in coming years.

When Josh, Curtis, Karl and I founded the Blue about a year and a half ago, we never would have imagined that we would have risen so quickly in the Texas blog community. We've got all of you to thank for the success we've seen and hope to continue to see long into the future.

There are some big changes coming both for the Texas Blue and for yours truly.

Today, we mark 232 years since our nation declared its independence and launched the greatest experiment in democracy the world has ever known.

The 2008 TDP State Convention was not what I expected. The possibility existed for a massive Jets vs. Sharks standoff, a large rumble between Obama supporters and Clinton supporters that could go on for days in contentious protracted parliamentary procedure.

We've been tracking the campaign of Wendy Davis for state senator in District 10 pretty closely here at the Blue. Some recent polling data — some reliable, some not so much, but all of it good news — has come out that should have incumbent Senator Kim Brimer sweating over his seat.

The caucuses, resolutions, candidacies and debates of the 2008 Texas Democratic Party Convention, gladly interrupted by the televised endorsement of Senator Obama by Senator Clinton, linked Texans intimately with the First Continental Congress, with John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington.