Coordinated Campaign 2008 - Harris County Democratic Party

The Houston Chronicle has had a front-row seat to the parade of Republican corruption and incompetence we’ve seen in Harris County. Now they have endorsed three of our finest Democratic challengers: Rick Noriega for U.S. Senate , Adrian Garcia for County Sheriff, and Joel Redmond for Texas House, District 144.

Houston Chronicle Endorses Rick Noriega

Noriega, a Houstonian, describes himself as a Texas Democrat. That term, once common currency in the state’s political conversation, seems to have fallen out of favor over the past several Republican-dominated years. But it resonates once more in this season of voter discontent with partisanship uber alles. Some old-fashioned moderate bipartisanship, Texas style, should be much welcomed in the Washington debate, particularly on overheated topics such as energy and immigration. Rick Noriega can provide it…Noriega is showing himself to be the model of an effective Democrat — a centrist, moderate Texas Democrat — in a time when most voters are sick of political extremes. As such, he may one day set the standard for what a strong Texas senator can be.

Houston Chronicle Endorses Adrian Garcia

In the past year the Harris County Sheriff’s Office has been buffeted by a series of issues raising questions about the ethics and management abilities of its leadership…Garcia is best suited to restore credibility and integrity to an office whose public image has been badly tarnished. The Chronicle urges voters to support him in his bid for sheriff.

Houston Chronicle endorses Joel Redmond

Running in a district with a distinctly conservative bent, the home mortgage executive has the credentials to match. Redmond, a Baylor graduate whose father is pastor of First Baptist Church Pasadena, founded the Peace by Believing Ministries, whose outreach services include helping prisoners prepare for gainful futures and assisting homeless people…he pledges to work to increase state funding for public education and opposes a voucher system that would undercut public schools.

These fine Democrats can’t win without your help — make sure you vote early, volunteer, and donate, and make sure that come November, Rick Noriega, Adrian Garcia, Joel Redmond, and all the other Democrats running for office will be elected to serve you.

With the nationwide excitement surrounding the Democratic National Convention and Senator Obama’s amazing acceptance speech, Channel 2 stopped by our Midtown Office to see just how motivated and energized local Democrats are.

Channel 2 News: “Houstonians Look Forward to Obama’s Speech”: http://www.click2houston.com/news/17333295/detail.html

With the Democratic Convention in full swing, Click2Houston has a story about how energized and motivated Democrats in Harris County are. 

“We’ve seen what our leadership has done and we’re not happy with it, so I think you’re going to see that energy not only in Denver but definitely here in Harris County locally,” said Bill Kelly with the Harris County Democratic Party. 

For longtime party volunteer Karen Kaufman, the amount of enthusiasm and confidence is noticeably higher this election cycle. 

She senses the attitude change with every phone call she answers at the party’s headquarters and every time she hands out a yard sign to a voter. 

“The time has come. It’s our time now to be able to promote some of our Democratic ideals with statewide candidates and with our judicial candidates,” she said.

For the video, click here.

Check out Fox 26’s coverage of Senator Obama’s VP Pick on Saturday morning, from HCDP’s own Midtown Campaign Office!

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=7270010&version=1&locale=EN-US

Democratic presidential nominee Barak Obama has selected Delaware Senator JOE BIDEN to be his vice-presidential running mate.

First elected to the United States Senate in 1972 at the age of 29, Biden serves as the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He is widely respected as a leader on foreign policy and international relationships and is one of the nation’s leading experts on terrorism. He has championed such causes as ending the war in Iraq, preventing genocide in Darfur, and regaining American prestige and status in the world through robust and strengthened diplomacy.

Biden has also served as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he led the fight to keep Robert Bork off the Supreme Court and strongly opposed the confirmation of John Roberts and Samuel Alito. He has been the author of much far-reaching and significant legislation, including the Biden Crime Bill, which put more than 100,000 additional police on the streets, the Violence Against Women Act, corporate corruption bills, and anti-torture legislation.

Harris County Democratic Party Chair Gerry Birnberg made the following statement: “With Joe Biden, Barack Obama has made an excellent choice for Vice President. Senator Biden is a dedicated public servant, who brings a wealth of experience to the Democratic ticket. He is widely respected as a leader on foreign policy and international relationships and is one of the nation’s leading experts on terrorism. Joe Biden has worked tirelessly to make our communities safer and will reinforce Senator Obama’s message of change that so many voters want.”

Married to a teacher, Biden has three children, one of whom currently serves as the Attorney General of Delaware and will be deploying to Iraq in September to serve a tour of duty in the Army National Guard.

Biden was also the keynote speaker at the Harris County Democratic Party’s very first Johnson-Rayburn-Richards dinner in 1980.

Some promising news for the top of our ticket comes today from the Houston Chronicle:

WASHINGTON — Hispanic support for Republicans has collapsed in the past four years, driven by immigration, the sagging economy and the Iraq war, a new poll has found.

The poll of 2,015 Latino voters conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center found that Democrat Barack Obama, who lost the Hispanic vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly 2-to-1 in the Democratic primary, holds a commanding 66 percent to 23 percent lead over Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

The Democratic tide in the Latino community is so strong that Obama leads among every nationality group, including the historically Republican Cuban-American population, where Obama now leads, 53 percent to 29 percent.

The Illinois Democrat is running far ahead among Mexican-Americans, who cast about 40 percent of their ballots for George W. Bush in 2004. Among voters of Mexican ancestry, Obama leads McCain, 70 percent to 21 percent.

Obama is running so far ahead that he has the support of 25 percent of Hispanics who identify themselves as Republicans and holds an edge of about 5-to-1 among Latinos who consider themselves political independents…

…The Pew survey finds the largest Democratic lead in party identification in its decade of polling — a 39 percentage point edge. Just 16 percent of registered Hispanic voters say they are Republicans, and another 10 percent are independents who lean to the GOP.

That Democratic edge has nearly doubled in the past two years, from a 49 percent to 28 percent edge in 2006 to today’s 65 percent to 26 percent advantage.

Obama leads McCain among all issues in the Hispanic community. On immigration, the Democrat has a huge advantage — even though his rival from Arizona has a liberal record on immigration — 59 percent to 19 percent. Half of Latinos say Obama would be better for immigrants, while just 12 percent say McCain would help immigrants more.

On the war in Iraq, Latinos trust Obama more to handle it, 58 percent to 27 percent — dashing Republicans’ hopes to appeal to the “patriotism factor” in Hispanic Americans. And on jobs, Hispanics prefer Obama, 65 percent to 19 percent.

While the hard-line rhetoric of some Republican conservatives has alienated many Latinos, the issue of immigration appears to have receded a bit as a voting issue. While 75 percent of Hispanics say immigration is “extremely” or “very” important to them, it lagsbehind education, Latino’s top concern at 93 percent, and pocketbook issues such as the rising cost of living (92 percent), jobs (91 percent) and health care (90 percent).

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5905184.html