Re: education, Texas Gov. Rick Perry's lack of pragmatism is on display once again. While Dem nominee Chris Bell was in Corpus at the state VFW conference affirming his support for veterans and healthcare, Perry was in Austin getting resistance from teachers for his virulent education policy. While Perry continues to praise the benefit of his archaic standardized test regime, teachers, administrators, parents and education experts continue to denounce the test-only curriculum as a fallacy. Like usual, Rick Perry isn't listening.

This is what Dr. Linda McNeil, the Co-Director of the Center for Education at Rice University, has to say about Texas's public schools under Rick Perry:

"Testing has pushed the state into substituting a bogus curriculum of test practice for a real, academically challenging, and instructionally productive curriculum."

You see? Rick Perry is scary. He hates science, he hates the environment, and his education policy is damaging our state.

Check out what education in Texas will look like with Chris Bell as Governor here and here.

...Great job and a sincere thanks to everyone who voted for the Texas ticket on map changers. Start your engines, round 3 begins later today. The winner hosts a fancy fundraiser with Mark Warner. Lets make that happen. Vote for Chris Bell.

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1,200 Texas adults were interviewed 6/23/06 - 6/25/06. Of them, 1,007 were Registered Voters. Of them, 576 were judged to be "likely" voters. MoE ± 4.2%

CandidateJuneMayAprilRick Perry (R)35%(41%)(39%)Kinky Friedman (I)21%(16%)(16%)Chris Bell (D)20%(18%)(15%)Carole Strayhorn (I)19%(20%)(25%)Other2%(1%)(3%)Undecided3%(3%)(3%)Crosstabs

While this is now the 2nd tracking poll putting Kinky Friedman in 2nd place, here it is a statistical 3 way tie for 2nd place, echoing previously expressed opinions of mine. Relative to where people were a month ago the only statisticly meaningful moves that are outside of the MoE are Perry's loss of 6% and Kinky's gain of 5%. Longer term, Bell is consolidating the base as Carole flakes off voters.

In the crosstabs there are some gender lines (Carole pulling woman, Kinky pulling men). In terms of age, Kinky pulls more of the youth vote (tied at 28% with Perry), Carole is even everwhere, and Bell and Perry have a hole and hill respectively in support among 50-64 year olds.

In terms of racial groups, the high/low distribution for each group is as follows.

Whites: Perry-40% / Bell-13%
Blacks: Bell-55% / Kinky-6%
Hispanic: Perry 32% / Kinky 19%
(mostly even here, but a large problem that Perry wins the Hispanics)

On partisan lines, we see Republicans for Perry (58%) split evenly next between the indies, with few interested in Bell (6%). For Democrats, Bell now has 44%, split evenly next to the indies and 12% go to Perry. For Independents, Kinky eats up 37%, split between Strayhorn and the Perry, with little interest in Bell (10%).

Ideologically there is an interesting blip. Kinky scored 2nd behind Perry among Conservative voters while at the same time matching Bell for first among Liberal voters (34% each). While not helpful to Bell at all, I've seen this in Kinky's voters as he pulls in casual rural Republicans as well as urban liberals (though only the white ones).

Governor Rick Perry's vulnerability was further emphasized today with the publication of the latest Zogby poll.  Perry's self congratulatory media blitz touting the resolution of the recent school finance special session apparently hasn't fooled the voters of Texas, the guv is still languishing in the mid 30s. I for one am tired of hearing glorious praise for non-existent tax breaks when education and health care suffer, and the poll confirms I am not alone. Dem nominee Chris Bell believes in quality public education and health care for children, not tax cuts that benefit large corporations and the rich. And as long as Perry continues to represent no one but his inner circle, his popularity - and prospects for reelection - will continue to sink like a rock.

Here are the numbers. Everyone knows Perry and Strayhorn (both hold statewide office), but 2/3 wont vote for him and almost no one will vote for her. What about Chris Bell? Right now, only 4 out of 10 Texans know him, yet 2 out of 10 will support him. So what will happen when Chris makes his case en masse? You do the math:

Perry: 37.7% (+1.4 since March/down 0.6% since January)
Bell: 19.7% (-1/+1.8)
Kinky: 17.5% (+0.8/+3.1)
Strayhorn: 14.1% (-4.9/-6.4)

What Mark Warner is doing in Virginia should make every Democrat proud. Check out his new PAC, and while you're at it, vote for your favorite candidates (like Chris Bell) in this exciting rendition of political March Madness!

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If you're looking for some national leadership in stem cell research, Texas dem Gub nominee Chris Bell is your guy. His advocacy began as a US rep in Congress and continues today as an advisory board member of StemPac. Chris was also recently one of two national political figures to take part in the progressive National Stem Cell Policy and Advocacy Summit at Stanford University.

Here is what Bernard Siegel, Executive Director of the Genetics Policy Institute and a leading expert in regenerative medicine, says about Chris:

"Chris Bell is resolutely on the side of patients and cures. Very few candidates for public office are as knowledgeable and passionate about stem cell research as Chris Bell."

Chris's strong belief in stem cells is due largely to personal experience. After he lost his mother to Parkinson's, his wife Alison battled breast cancer for more than a year before finally going into complete remission.

"We need to stop talking about banning stem cell research and start funding it. When Jesus healed the lepers, he didn't call his pollster," said Bell. "Jesus never said heal the sick, unless politics gets in the way.  I believe God gives us the tools of science and technology to help our fellow man. We cannot let politics stand in the way of curing disease and healing the sick. It's the right thing to do, and now is the time to do it."

Check out more of what Chris thinks about stem cell and regenerative medicine.

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The disaster that is independent gubernatorial candidate "Grandma" Carole Strayhorn is the theme for Democratic nominee Chris Bell this week. His "Strayhorn Reality tour" hits Beaumont, Bryan-College Station and Waco today, after stops in El Paso and Houston earlier in the week. Bell's latest public service crusade is to alert the public just how scary Strayhorn is. Here are the latest headlines from the stump:  

One tough Grandma has been real tough for Texas's healthcare system. In 2003, Grandma forced 213,070 children off CHIP so the state could save $231 million in the short term. No savings were ever realized, primarily due to the billion dollars that Texas forfeited in matching federal funds. Added burden also includes the financial and human cost of children seeking emergency room treatment in lieu of proper medical insurance.  

Strayhorn orchestrated an $899 million out-of-state outsource that cost 2,900 full-time state employees their jobs and an additional 15,000 children their CHIP coverage.

Grandma also tried to cut $116.6 million and eliminate 5,465 jobs from the Department of Human Services.

Thanks to pro-voucher and million-dollar contributor extraordinaire James Leininger, Strayhorn has also pushed for school vouchers. As recently as February 2006 she said she "still supports vouchers."

Grandma is also to blame for skyrocketing tuition rates. She's the one that got the ball rolling on a 69% increase that has cost Texas students an extra $750 million.

Chris Bell believes that college should be affordable and that budgets are more than numbers on a line item. They are moral documents that reflect our shared moral priorities as a society.

Grandma doesn't care about her kids, but Chris does.

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