Houston Democrats

Step one would be compete everywhere. State Rep races are the closest points of contact voters are likely to have with a candidate and we effectively had nothing to say to 40% of Harris County voters in 2004 in that we didn't bother fielding a candidate. In the areas where we failed to merely compete, we've seen our vote totals slip with each passing election to the point where many are now well beyond out of reach and many areas where we should be competitive (Spring Branch, Baytown, Pasadena) are now 2 or 3 cycles away from being realistically winnable.

To be successful countywide will require firing on all cylinders: get the base voters out en masse, persuade the persuadables, and pick off those who are legitimately seeing the failings of the other side's individual candidates. If voters don't see a candidate (in some form or another), they've got less and less reason to vote for us. Put candidates in the heretofore unwinnable parts of the county, engage in a fulltime campaign in those districts and you've given yourself a shot to do those three things in an area where we've neglected voters for too long.

The math works out so that if we do well enough to increase our vote percentage by a few points in those districts, we get more votes than any other possible activity we can engage in. Simply put, there's more fish in that pond. But combine it with increasing our turnout in Democratic strongholds, and we suddenly get to a more competitive point countywide. If nothing else, a successful effort should tie up more time and resources by the other side to prevent them from sharing resources to endangered incumbents of their own.

Look no further than the Heflin-Vo race ... had we tied up other candidates with a full spirited campaign on the ground in their own districts, they might have to decide to spend the weekend in their own districts rather than helping out poor old Heflin. Check the names Tal thanks on his site for volunteering and you'll see a long list of elected officials. Keep those people busy with their own race and next time, we win so big in the contested areas that they don't even think to try and have Andy Taylor steal an election from us. We could also avoid the fate of those near-misses that other areas saw with Katy Hubener in Dallas and Kelly White in Austin.

Greg is right about the need to field candidates in all races. If we depend solely on the party chair to do this, it will never get done -- that's no slap against Gerry Birnberg, it's a recognition of how big the job is.

In SD 17, we are searching for candidates by casting the widest net possible. Ella Tyler, our local SDEC rep, is holding a public meeting soon to find candidates for HD 133. We may do the same for HD 134, and SD 17 itself, to run against Kyle Janek. I encourage clubs and senate district officers all over the county to do the same thing for their areas.

Building on what Greg and Dale have said, I don't know if this is the second step or not, but I'd like to see the HCDP and its clubs reach out to their counterparts in neighboring counties, especially Fort Bend, which is teetering on the brink of swing status. That would help us in races like CD22 and SD17 as well as some district judgeships, and it would be beneficial to the state party overall. I'd like to see the Travis County party do the same thing in Williamson and Caldwell Counties, too.

There has been a lot of discussion of how to get the Democratic message out. It would seem to me that having a Democratic candidate in every race talking about the issues that are important to us such as Education, Health Care, Employment, etc. would be the best way to get our message. (And also to get more Democrats elected.)
The SDEC rep for SD 17,Ella Tyler, is on the right track of talking to the people in each precint to find candidates and to start building an organization for the 2006 elections. There is no time like the present to start; the filing for the 2006 primary is only 10 months off.