I liked this part: "On January 8, members of the TexasKAOS staff are going to hand deliver a copy of Crashing the Gate to every TDP officer and SDEC member." Way to go Anna, Jerome

(x-posted from TexasKAOS - where we're Taking Texas Back!)

When Chris Bowers posted Become the California Democratic Party back on December 8, it struck a chord with me.  

Back in June, a contingent of reformers got their first shot at taking over the Texas Democratic Party.  Made up largely of former Dean, Clark, and Edwards supporters, the movement nearly succeeded.  We forced a rare runoff, and fell only 3% short in the second round of voting.  Although the reform contingent constituted a majority of present delegates, we were outvoted by delegates who held proxy power (ie, multiple votes) for non-present delegates.  The loss was heartbreaking for many of us. There were two candidates - Glen Maxey and Charlie Urbina-Jones - who understood that people powered politics is the way of the future.  But we were defeated by the old-schoolers who clearly knew how to work the proxy system.  Lesson learned.

After the convention, we went home defeated but determined to work for and support our Democratic candidates.  The convention was over - it was time to STFU and get to work.  Or as Bill Clinton put it, "Fall in love, then fall in line." We were good soldiers, and we expected that our party would support the Democratic slate from top to bottom.  Needless to say, the convention loss wasn't our last disappointment of this campaign season.

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Happy Friday everyone!  This entry is a cross-post from TexasKaos, where we're Taking Texas back. The Texas Progressive Alliance - a coalition of the top twenty five liberal Texas blogs - is proud to announce the winner of the TPA's Second Annual Texan of the Year: Carolyn Boyle and ParentPAC.

<-- ParentPAC's Carolyn Boyle, courtesy of the Austin Chronicle

I'm cross-posting because I thought yall might be interested in learning about some of the power players in Texas. You're probably familiar with Swift Vet Liars for Bush funder Bob Perry. We seem to breed those types down here. The latest GOP sugar daddy is James Leininger of San Antonio. His pet project is pushing vouchers and destroying our public school system. But good things are happening here. Regular people are starting to fight back. The story of ParentPAC is a true grassroots success story, and I think it serves as a great example of what we can accomplish when they band together.

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