Feeding the Crowd at the Dems' Table

The Texas Democratic Party is experiencing growing pains. Luckily, we don't have to look any further than the Texas Republican Party to learn what not to do.

On Nov. 8 last year, a lot of people woke up around Texas and realized what some of us had discovered long before: that there is a Democratic Party in the Lone Star State as well as nationwide. There's no greater salve for what ails a political party than victory, and when Democrats won every single election in Dallas County in 2006 as well as six Texas House races, a new day dawned.

Suddenly, instead of having to beg people to run for office in parts of the state that hadn't enjoyed a great deal of Democratic success, people were lining up.

Harris County judicial races are a perfect example: for years, it had been very difficult to find Harris County Democrats willing to dedicate time and treasure to run for judge, but after a committee was formed earlier this year to recruit qualified candidates, it was soon found there were too many, not too few.

Now there are more potential candidates than there are benches up for grabs in 2008.

It's a good problem to have, but it's not going to be pain-free. Because of the recent success, the stage is now set for something we haven't seen a lot of in the Texas Democratic Party in recent years. They're called competitive primaries and they occur when you have more than one quality candidate from the same party battling it out in the spring of an election year. Suffice it to say, they can be downright ugly and, if not handled properly, they can destroy a party.

Most of the worst personal fights anyone has ever had are within their own family.

People just hold their own to a higher standard and when there's a breach, it seems to carry a much higher penalty. It's not a whole lot different in politics. People expect bad behavior from the other side but from someone in your own camp, it's unforgivable.

What Democrats need to remember is that primary contests are a sign of a healthy party. People are seeking the nomination for this office and that's because they believe there's a good chance to win in November. But to stem the flow of bad blood produced by such contests, we need to be mindful of how the Republicans have successfully torn themselves apart.

It's hard to avoid.

When a party starved for victory finally finds itself with a chance to dine, there are suddenly a lot more people looking for a place at the table. Some who have had to exist on table scraps for many years are not going to be altogether welcoming to the new faces in the crowd.

But what has to be remembered is that without those new faces, there wouldn't be the same chance for success.

So let the balancing act begin.

(Originally published by Examiner Newspaper Group)