Texas Blue Mailbag: Week of October 7, 2007

Mailbag? More like Mixed Bag, am I right?

In case you're curious about what's actually *in* the Mailbag, we cover Denton County and Turkey. --George

BP says:

What are the five year prospects for electing Democrats in Denton County?

George says:

Well, we're not exactly Dallas County, but there are a handful of races that could be fairly interesting. State Representative Myra Crownover took some hits from her Democratic opponent, John McLeod, in '06 for poorly representing her constituency. Word on the street is she's also going to have some primary challengers in '08, which should be interesting to watch. There's some interesting word-on-the-street stuff being said about Precinct 1 commissioner Cynthia White as well. And of course, District Judge Vicki Isaacs is retiring after a "colorful" career spotted with a couple of misconduct allegations here and there. A Republican has already declared for the nomination for that seat (Steve Burgess, a local attorney).

Those are some short- to medium- term targets there, but really, what will truly shape the results that come out of Denton County in the next few years is not a vulnerability in one or another particular race — it's getting the DPI in the county up. Even weak Republican candidates enjoy the benefits of an entrenched, influential Republican county party with plenty of resources. Democrats have not had that advantage in past years, and that shows in that the typical Democratic candidate has tended to pull in a percentage of the vote somewhere in the 30's. But a few races in Denton County — namely John McLeod's which I mentioned above and Mac Poe's for JP District 1 — were able to break 40%, indicating that a strong effort to get Democrats in the county organized and to find and tap into the resources available to us could go far in turning the county around. The Denton County Party's on top of that right now, and chairman Neil Durrance and executive director Jace Reeder are working their butts off to try and make that happen.

Skee asks:

Can we just call the Republican Party the Ad Hominem party now?

Josh says:

I'm sure Bill Clinton would love you for it.

Michael says:

Lon Burnam is True Blue not Purple or Pink!

George says:

Yes. Yes, he is.
He is also very progressive. Which I think is also what you mean. And that's great as well.

What on earth is pink?

Braddock asks:

Doesn't Congress have better things to worry about than making Turkey mad?

Josh says:

You would think they do. Genocide is genocide and it should be treated as such, and what Turkey did in 1915 to Armenians is often marked as the first modern, systematic genocide. It was an atrocity. The White House is squeamish about this because Turkey is the conduit through which a great deal of our military moves in the Middle East. I'm not crazy about the idea of playing politics with issues like this, and hurting Turkey's feelings wouldn't be such a source of concern if we'd engaged in responsible foreign policy in the first place, never invaded Iraq and, as such, did not need Turkey for troop movement. Germany is our great ally, but if they said the Holocaust didn't happen, you can bet we would have more than a few House resolutions about it.