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The Texas Blue
Advancing Progressive Ideas

Weekend Roundup: Sunday Night

Craddick had a bad weekend - after introducing his new, creepy pledge card and engaging in one last knock-kneed run for the sun on commitments, he started to lose some support in a very public way.

Democrat Chuck Hopson pledged to Pitts, and then Democrat Richard Raymond followed with a press release and a letter to Craddick telling him he expects him to lose no matter what, secret ballot or not. BOR has the text.

Then Republicans Geren and Keumpel went for Pitts, drawing Keffer's ire. Despite an announcement by Democratic Freshman Eddie Lucio III that he was pledging to Craddick, the momentum looks like it is swinging away from the old guard. Throw in the floaters and it still, to my mind, comes down to how the vote is taken. HR30 and its random roll call must still be approved and adopted, and as far as I'm concerned, that's the Speaker's race.

Now the question is more about will than anything else. If members have the will to vote against Craddick's desired vote procedures, they have the will to vote against him.

I was in on a conference call today with the Texas Democratic Party - they invited progressive bloggers to discuss plans for the coming cycle with Chairman Boyd Richie as well as some introductions and brainstorming with Amber Moon and Hector Nieto from the party's communications staff. I can't talk much about the details of that call until tomorrow afternoon, but I can say that good things are happening at the state level, and confidence is high. We'll all be doing ice breakers and trust falls before you know it.

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