(Community Matters) Lots of discussions on the opportunity to Paint Texas Blue. Folks 40 and over seem to think we have, at best, a shot of winning the 5 seats necessary to turn the Texas House Democratic. The 20- & 30- something political entrepreneurs (Steven likens them to artists) believe we can do that and win Texas for Obama.
I’m told there are over 1,500,000 unregistered voters in Texas – two-thirds Hispanic and most of the others Black (the majority African American). By far the majority of these are in Harris County, evidently a Texas county completely out of control. Republicans have had Harris County locked up for several years. Electeds and political professionals recount how Tax Assessor-Collector, Paul Bettencourt (R), effectively suppresses minority votes by taking names off the rolls for simple address changes. reducing the hours of early voting and indiscrimantely challenging black and brown voters at the ballot boxes. Plenty of coverage on R scandals in the county – including shamed district attorney Chuck Rosenthal. There’s a real opportunity to turn Harris County blue. Dallas went blue the last election cycle.
This year’s Democratic presidential primary engaged unlikely voters as no other. If we build on this momentum and motivate voters to pull the “D” lever when they vote for Obama, we might just celebrate Texas as a blue state come Nov. 4th.
Community Matters 