The Texas Observer

It’s early yet, but the Internet is humming with folks who want to oust Sen. John Cornyn in ‘08. They are bolstered by the fact that Cornyn’s approval ratings are not so hot (and still cooling).

Already a site titled simply Stop Cornyn is up and running. A larger collection of bloggers, not satisfied with declared candidate Corpus Christi lawyer Mikal Watts, has gone proactive in finding a replacement. Within the last two weeks they launched a movement to draft state Rep. Rick Noriega, a Houston Democrat with a solid voting record who also happens to be an active member of the National Guard, to run against Cornyn.

It’s easy to see Noriega’s appeal to the netroots: besides his politics, he’s served in both Afghanistan and on the Texas-Mexico border, immediately giving him authority on two issues that Cornyn could use to bully a different opponent. A run-down of many of the widely read blogs is available at Brains and Eggs. There’s also detailed information going up on the Draft Rick Noriega site, where it looks like they’ll be tracking primary opponents like Watts or maybe (emphasis on maybe) U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards.

At the same time, these draft movements don’t exactly have the best track record. When we checked in with Charles Kuffner, the author of Off the Kuff and a member of the Draft Noriega squad, he laid out some ways this might be different. For one, the candidate is an actual politician. “It’s not like we’re trying to persuade someone to come out and run. We know Rick Noriega is seriously considering it,” Kuffner said. Additionally, Kuffner is friends with Rick’s wife Melissa Noriega, who was recently elected to the Houston city council. Kuffner knows Rick. And while he’s not part of the campaign, he is in touch with them.

Given that, the term “draft” is more of a catch-all — shorthand for creating a single entity that can encourage the idea of Noriega running, gather information about him for voters and reporters, and generate interest. Many supporters, like Burnt Orange Report, aren’t campaigning just for Noriega, but encouraging a strong Democratic primary that gets voters involved.

Texas’ progressive bloggers, Kuffner said, have long wanted to emulate successes in other states in generating interest, energy, and — never to be discounted — funds for preferred candidates. Noriega is a “perfect storm candidate” who presents an opportunity to

basically say up front who we think the best candidate is. This sort of came up originally in maybe January. It was coming up at a time when it was going to be Nick Lampson or John Sharp. Someone else who was going to be handed down by … the money powers that be. A lot of us folks felt like, “We want to be a part of this conversation, too.”

It’s worth noting that Kuffner goes to great lengths to point out that this is not some kind of adversarial relationship with the fund-raisers who typically control this process. If Noriega runs he is going to need a lot of money both to get out of the primary and to take on Cornyn. Already Watts is using his money to lock up support around the state. It’s really about being a united voice that can have a say in the process of selecting a candidate, even if the nomination eventually doesn’t go to his guy, asserts Kuffner. “The ultimate goal,” he said, “is replacing our existing Senator.”

by Matthew C. Wright

This entry was posted on Friday, June 29th, 2007 at 5:11 pm and is filed under Elections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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