Kirk Watson to challenge Gonzalo Barrientos - TX Senate (Austin)

[sonias]

Lots of stories floating around today. The Statesman rag had an Oppel column about it, and I heard last night that David Butts, who is a very successful campaign consultant is already on board on Kirk's behalf. Should be interesting. Will Barrientos bow out gracefully?

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/07/17oppel_edit.html
Oppel: Watson is ready to challenge Barrientos – but only if he must
Rich Oppel
Sunday, July 17, 2005

Former Austin Mayor Kirk Watson is awaiting state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos's decision on whether he will announce his retirement after the special legislative session ends July 20, which also happens to be the incumbent's 64th birthday.

Whether Barrientos says he is quitting or not, Watson plans to run for the District 14 seat that Barrientos holds. He is said to prefer that Barrientos quits. But if the incumbent does not, Watson will pay the senator a courtesy call and then launch his challenge.

Sonia

[hobbit709]

1. AARRGGHH!!

I hate Kirk Watson.

[ThJ]

2. Barrientos is that old?

Wow. He doesn't really look it.

I'm not sure how I'd feel about Watson running for that seat. I think there's probably some better candidate.

[Gothmog]

3. Watson is a good guy

I went to law school with Kirk and debated with him in undergrad. He is a good guy and was a great mayor for Austin. I think that he would be a great senator

[fudge stripe cookays]

4. But couldn't he run for a seat with a REPUBLICAN in it?

Why does Gonzalo have to defend his seat against another Democrat? He's a decent guy.

Is Kirk afraid of running against the real enemy?
FSC

[NoPasaran]

5. Frankly, Gonzalo has been coasting on his reputation

for several sessions now. Decent? Yeah. Effective? Not so much.

[fudge stripe cookays]

6. Not that I'm trying to "settle" or anything,

but it just seems that there are other seats that would be more important to have another D in right now.

Gonzalo may not be the best, but this seems to too close to eating our own to me. Watson should try to run for one of the other seats to take it back.

FSC

[sonias]

7. I'm ambivalent about the race too FSC

But I understand why Watson is running. He lives in this Senate district and I think that he feels that if he can get Legislative experience that maybe he can try again for a statewide race. Why Gonzalo? Gonzalo is not at the top of his game now and many see him as being vulnerable. He has that embarrassing DWI from the last election. He was voted one of the worst Legislators this session because he had no major legislation that he passed. Many think his passion has cooled too much to continue being the fighter Austin needs. Gonzalo survived a challenge last election from a "Dellionaire" because this district is still a Democratic leaning district, but the repukes are not giving up challenging him. Gonzalo burned a couple of his bridges last time with the party by endorsing someone besides Lloyd Doggett in CD25.

I don't necessarily want a primary fight either, because it does hurt the party. I don't think that the party should decide that Watson can't run either. It really is up to Gonzalo, if he still has the fire to fight then he won't retire and he'll run a tough race and maybe he can survive the primary challenge. Watson is a tough opponent who will put together a strong campaign team and it may be close but I do think Watson can beat Gonzalo.

Sonia

[NoPasaran]

8. Not that it's my SD either

But Watson could be a strong voice for progressive Democratic values in the Senate. It would be great to see him in a statewide office, but realistically, what's out there? Chris Bell is already a progressive almost-candidate for governor. If Dewhurst wants to stay as Lt Guv, he can spend a gazillion dollars of his own money to keep the seat. KBH is probably unbeatable (although just why she insists on getting closer and closer to Rove when you'd think she'd be backing away). I'd rather have Kirk Watson in office somewhere doing some good than running another statewide race that ends in a noble defeat.

[fudge stripe cookays]

9. Aha.

Well, that helps me deal a bit.

I have been gone awhile, after all. Sounds like Gonzalo may have gone a bit soft, but I'll hope for the best.

If Kirk thinks he can do a better job, more power to him I guess. The Republican threat down there sounds like it's getting pretty strong. We need to fight off the insidious idiots from places like Round Rock and Westlake Hills.

Thanks for the primer, sonia. That helps get me caught up!
FSC

[Gman]

10. Nothing good can come out of it if Watson runs against Gonzalo

Watson needs to bide his time. And, what's Watson doing in Austin? Watson obviously has no clue how deep Gonzalo's base goes. It will end up with Watson embarrasing his self and completely killing any further chance he has for statewide office.

[mcd1982]

14. really?

Does Senator Bs base really run that deep? All of my capital friends, and those who follow politics all respect Barrientos but also realize it's time for him to move on.

His days as an effective legislator are over and we need some fresh blood in the Party, and effective blood at that.

Barrientos gets little done anymore...

[friedcatfish]

11. What's Watson's frequency

Can't quite put my finger on this Watson candidacy. Unless Gonzalo says it's time to quit, Watson better do some soul-searching. Gonzalo might have have a few downsides, but he still might be the best person for that position in this given time. I'm not sure of Watson's reasoning. What if Watson moved and took on Jeff Wentworthless. If I remember my state candidacy requirements, he has 12 months before general election to set up residency in the district.

[sonias]

12. I like that idea friedcatfish!

Jeff Wentworth is my Senator. Even though he's moderate for a repuke I'd rather have a Democrat representing me. I know the Senate District (SD25) is drawn to favor repukes, but maybe someone like Watson could beat Wentworth. Wentworth has had a right wing challenger every primary election. The reich wing wants him out too.

Watson could make a case in Austin that Wentworth voted to divide Austin with re-districting which he did. Wentworth said he would vote against breaking up Austin and then he voted for it. Flip-flopper.

If we organized around a good candidate like we're working on right now in CD21 to take out Lamar Smith, we could get a 2 for 1 with good effort. That would be sweet!

And by the way welcome to DU friedcatfish!

Sonia

[mcd1982]

13. interesting...

I've not heard anything good about Gonzalo the entire 5 years I've been following politics.

Everyone seems to know that he's worthless and is nothing short of a bomb thrower...everyone except those on DU.

Democrats still have house cleaning to do, and that doesn't mean only DINOs. We need to get rid of the eneffective Ds too, even if they do vote right most of the time.