Rick Noriega Channels Howard Dean
November 5th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Howard Dean failed to go much of anywhere in 2004 — but he managed shortly thereafter to secure the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee, and he transformed his presidential campaign into Democracy For America — which still has subsidiaries across the U.S., including Democracy For Texas.
U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega is tapping into this political structure, and according to folks associated with his campaign will likely gain the endorsement of DFA — which would be on top of the recent endorsement by DFT.
Karl-Thomas Musselman is publisher of the Burnt Orange Report (a slice of the world wide web that most Texas Democrats know well). He is also affiliated with DFT.
Musselman let readers know last month that he has signed on as Online Coordinator for Noriega. He notes that, if Noriega gains DFA’s endorsement, it will be the first endorsement by the national organization in any U.S. Senate race in 2008 — which certainly says something about how Lone Star politics has changed in the last four years.
Musselman points to “that unique story that Rick has.” Noriega has served on the border, with hands-on experience on the front lines of the right wing’s pet issue. He also served, as Off the Kuff’s Charles Kuffner noted, in Afghanistan, and will be able to speak truth to power about the war.
“That energy is going to be helpful,” Musselman says. “That endorsement is a measure of the excitement…”
Musselman pointed to the record of John Cornyn (R-Texas) to explain why he thinks Noriega deserves such a high-profile endorsement.
He cited “votes that infuriate” like Cornyn’s insistence on opposing the S-CHIP bill in even its most diluted form. Musselman said Cornyn is in “lock-step with the president, who is no longer popular, even in Texas.”
But above all, Musselman says, Noriega “can speak with authority on the war…”
Dean made his mark criticizing Bush and Cheney’s war of choice — back before it was fashionable. Dean also introduced the political world to the phenomenon of online fundraising. Now that San Antonio lawyer Mikal Watts has dropped out, Rick Noriega will need those online constituencies to help him not only with fundraising but also in getting the word out about his candidacy since there won’t be the free media attention from a contested primary. But even with the online community a fairy tale ending for this Cinderella story is going to take tremendous work and a lot of luck. It has been a long time since a Democrat won statewide in Texas.
November 5th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Hmmmmm. Roll Call newspaper today rated this race as “Safe Republican.” Lot of hype in this story. Maybe you should have interviewed Musselman’s feline, CATFISH.
December 6th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
[…] Rick Noriega (D-Houston) looked for a moment like he might have the race all to himself after Corpus Christi attorney Mikal Watts abruptly dropped out in late October. Now, however, […]