Chris Bell's remarks to the SDEC yesterday

[PDittie]

Prospective candidate for Texas Governor Chris Bell spoke to the State Democratic Executive Committee yesterday at their meeting in Austin. Burnt Orange Report live-blogged it, so go read it all. Here's some of the highlights:

As I travel the state, I talk about what I call the New Mainstream. And some people are asking me what I mean by that.

When Republicans say they’re representing the mainstream they really mean a narrow section of special interest groups in Texas, leaving a huge majority of people on the outside. Remarkably, these new outsiders are solution-oriented people of all stripes--the moderate Republicans who Rick Perry is trying to kick out of his party, the Independents who are getting quite scared about what’s going on, and the Democrats who knew from the start that Rick Perry couldn’t lead a silent prayer. People who want our state to work, in short.

And all those folks who don’t take frequent dips in Tom Delay’s hot tub and whom Rick Perry says aren’t real Texans, well, they are part of the New Mainstream. Todos estamos en esto juntos. We are all in this together.

And if we are all in this together, it’s time that we in the Democratic Party start acting like it.

Go read the whole thing. It kicks ass.

Chris Bell, :yourock:

[napi21]

1. So, do you think he has a REAL chance to win?

I lived in San Antonio when Ann Richards was Gov, and moved about a year after Shrub beat her. I still miss Ann! I know Perry has a lot of connections in Tx. but I'd sure love to see him kicked out on his a**!

What kind of receptions is Bell getting as he tours the state? Do you think he can win?

[PDittie]

2. ABSOLUTELY he can win

He's drawing raves.

I saw him at Democracy Fest a few weeks ago when he was on the panel with Richard Morrison talking about "the DeLay factor". That was the same weekend that KBH jumped out of the race for governor and CKS jumped in.

Are you still in Texas? There's a slate of upcoming appearances.

Got an Ipod? You can http://www.chrisbell.com/blog/062205_new_podcast">listen to his latest podcast.

[Stevepol]

6. I would agree if it weren't for the voting machines. Texas has

a history of Democratic politics. This supposed resurgence of Republicanism is just a side effect of the Diebold Revolution.

A lot of Chicanos and Blacks in Tejas and a lot of liberal thinkers.

Once the paper ballot is required and audits for every election where the votes are counted by programmed electronic machines, the state will suddenly turn Democratic again. Surprise, surprise!!

[ThJ]

5. I hate to disagree with PDittie, but...

Chris Bell is not well known statewide, even amongst Democrats, and we're dealing with a state which has gone Republican statewide, so his appeal will have to cross party lines, but as there are so many diehard Republicans, he has a lot of ground to make up, and he may not have the bankroll to do it.

I've thought of some other candidates who would probably be better at beating Perry, who seems to be shooting himself in the foot by vetoing school finance and calling a special session (he and Dewhurst are now going head to head), such as John Sharp.

[shance]

3. "We’ve tried to out-Republican the Republicans"

"and all we’ve gotten for it is a demoralized base, demoralized donors, demoralized activists, and demoralized leaders. Our unwillingness to challenge the other side has given us the most corrupt and incompetent Texas government in a generation. It is our duty to restore Texas pride."

Few have Bell's calibre.

If Texas has a fair election, he'll win.

[merci_me]

4. Thanks for the post

As I told you before, seeing him at Cy-Fair Democrats last Thursday evening, I was soooooo happy to see the old Chris Bell back in fine form.

For those who don't know, through all of this "exploratory" time, Chris and his wife, Alison, have been battling her Christmas-time breast cancer diagnosis. They've been being there for each other, their two little boys and us. We had asked him months before, to consider a run and he and Alison came through for us, through her surgery, months of chemo and even now, August will be daily radiation. But, it all looks really good and hopefully, we (you and I) can come through with some financial support for a real campaign.

You could see last week, that the lightness and Bell humor are back and you can see from his July schedule, that he's going full tilt.

Mary

[sonias]

7. Thanks PDittie

I was there for a bit but did not get to hear Chris Bell. We had a PPC general meeting at the SDEC meeting too. That was a very good meeting too.

BOR rocks for doing the live blogging thing. Damon McCullar is part of that new crop of writers they just brought on board. That's real news coverage for Texas Democrats.

Karl-Thomas Musselman was at our last DFT meetup and he's the son of the man who recently got elected to the Fredericksburg city council. His Dad Tom and his Mom Kelly were at DemFest at the session on turning Red States Blue. Anyway this young UT Democrat was his father's campaign manager and Karl is really sharp. We talked a bit about getting those UT Dems working for John Courage in CD21. BOR does good work. Karl now hosts/owns the BOR site, therefore the redirect of the URL to http://bor.musselmanforamerica.com/mt/

And on a related note for you Central Texas Democrats Chris Bell is in town raising money on July 13th.

Fundraising Reception & Happy Hour for Chris Bell
There will be a fundraising reception & happy hour for Chris Bell for Governor Exploratory Committee next Wednesday, July 13th from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Dona Emilia’s South American Bar & Grill, 101 San Jacinto Boulevard. Sponsorships are available at $500, $250, $100. Regular tickets are priced at $35. For more information, please contact Susan Harry at 542-9745 or [e-mail]

Sonia