The Stakes of the 2010 Election & Texas Democrats' Massive Field Program

[Joanne98]

by: Phillip Martin
Mon Oct 18, 2010 at 00:39 PM CDT

Look, I know I don’t have the polish of career politicians. But as an experienced businessman and Mayor I know how to bring people together to get things done. Isn’t that what Texas needs right now?

-- Bill White, from his announcement for governor, December 4, 2009
Bill White will be a better governor than Rick Perry. Early vote starts today, and shouldn't that be all that matters? If you think so, help make phone calls today.


Texas Democrats have not had a candidate like Bill White run statewide since the days of Ann Richards. Bill White is a public servant. In their first endorsement of a Democrat for governor in at least a quarter century, the Dallas Morning News wrote that Bill White represents "the best Texas tradition of the businessman governor." He is exactly who we need right now, and the stakes are too high for Bill White to not get elected.


After all, it is Bill White versus what the Texas Observer called, "The New Nixon." Consider the following:

Texas is facing a massive budget shortfall approaching $23 billion
Texas has more uninsured children -- 1.15 million -- than any state in the country
Texas is at the bottom nationwide in the number of adults with a high school diploma
Texas has twice as many at-or-below minimum wage jobs than any other state in the country, and in the last month we lost more jobs than any state in the country except Michigan
Texas has a high school graduation rate of 61 percent, and approximately 60 percent of community college students require remedial work
The list goes on and on. Republicans like Rick Perry will see that list and say that I am "trying to tear down Texas." Nothing could be further from the truth. As a lifelong Texan, I want our state to succeed. But I know, as many of you know, that Texas will not succeed -- in the short-term or the long-term -- until we seriously address the long list of challenges facing our state. And that will never happen with Rick Perry.

Will Bill White solve all of those problems in four years? Of course not. But Bill White can put us on a path other than the one George W. Bush and Rick Perry have had us on for the last sixteen years. After sixteen years, doesn't Texas deserve better than those two morons?
There are as many criticisms of the campaign as there are factions in our party. There are Democrats who wish Bill White talked more about issues, and others who want him to get more negative against Perry. There is concern that White hasn't done enough to reach out to the Hispanic community, and the persistant desire for him to be more exciting and engaging. Every day since he announced, I've heard Democrats talk about why Bill White won't be governor, or why his strategy is not the right one to win.

What often goes unsaid, though, is what Bill White, his campaign, the Texas Democratic Party and volutneers across the state have done. The field program is an impressive attempt to overcome the Everest-like challenge of defeating our 10-year incumbent Governor who many presume to be unstoppable and. As a result, many Democrats don't get involved because of apathy, inertia, concern of Rick Perry's natural advantage, or the national mood. No one has fully understood the massive field program Bill White, the Texas Democratic Party, and county coordinated campaigns across the state have developed and executed with unprecedented committment this cycle.

We've seen hints of White's grassroots strength trickle out in recent weeks -- from his irrefutable online advantage to the $21.3 million he's raised from 25,000 contributors across Texas -- but the true strength of Bill White and Texas Democrats' grassroots campaign rests in his massive field program:

Since Bill White announced for governor on December 4, Bill White's campaign and Democratic allies have called 2.4 million voters and knocked on 1.9 million voters' doors


In October alone, 572,862 voters have been called and 565,290 voters' doors have been knocked


Over 18,000 Bill White volunteers are signed up to knock on doors and make calls


Bill White's field organization has more than 70 field organizers, regional directors, and political directors


There are nineteen "Bill White for Texas" and allied offices spread across the state


There are multiple coordinated campaigns driving out the democratic base, with hundreds of canvassers who have been working every single day for months
Victory is truly within our reach if we go out and work for it. You can make phone calls all day. With just two weeks to go, it is absolutely imperative that each of us does everything within our power to play a role in making history in Texas. On any political campaign, strategy decisions are going to be made that people don't agree with, don't understand, or don't support. At this stage of the game, though, all the chips are on the table. All that matters today, for those who understand the stakes of what it will mean if Rick Perry wins re-election for another four years, is that we take advantage of what we can control, and not worry about what we can't.

In a democracy, the people who show up get to make the decisions. Find your early vote location here and then make phone calls to turn out the vote. Game on.

http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/10876/the-stakes-of-the-2010-election-texas-democrats-massive-field-program