Today marks the one month point of the Texas Bloggers drive for 800 participants on board the Noriega Express to give Texas at least one U.S. Senator who won't embarass us every time he opens his mouth.

A lot has happened in that month.

There's more...

Cross posted at www.BurntOrangeReport.comand www.StopCornyn.com

Not often you watch a Saturday, off-cycle runoff with anticipation.  This past weekend, Texas bloggers watched intently as the Houston City Council At-Large results came in.

Houston Mayor Bill White has been long rumored to be eyeing a statewide race in 2010, and growing the Democratic base and brand in his own backyard is an important part of preparing for such a run.

Clearly Melissa Noriega, State Rep. and decorated war hero Rick Noriega's wife, was interested in her own race against Republican Roy Morales.  Would she be able to win a race so few thought she should run in? A loss surely ended any speculation that her husband could run for statewide office, while a victory would fuel the speculation.

As Saturday's numbers rolled in (slowly but surely) Noriega won handily.  She beat Morales by over 11 points and now all eyes turned toward the future. Harris County is home to 1,782,013 voters spread throughout 875 precincts. Texas only has 12,357,887 registered voters in 254 counties or 8,306 precincts.  What happens in Houston is a gage of 14% of the Texas electorate.

During the last presidential election an impressive 1,067,968 people voted in Harris County -- 55% turnout of registered voters at the time.

Not only does extending our bench to 8 out of 14 city council members in Houston matter, but Melissa Noriega winning a citywide election in such a crucial state will possibly influence both the primary and general election for another Noriega.

The news gets better in Houston. Houston City Council is now at 8 to 6 majority for Democrats, but if you include influential and ambitious Mayor Bill White and Controller Annise Parker, that means Democrats hold 10 of 16 regionally and citywide elected officials.

Now that we are done with the city elections, we are staring directly at 2008, and Houston has changed the picture.

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The Texas netroots (aka Texroots) is bubbling over with excitement about State Rep. Rick Noriega as the best challenger to take out John Cornyn next year, but first we need to help his wife win a city council seat in Houston against a truly odious creep. Texas Nate

I've been talking up my friend State Rep. Rick Noriega as the person who's going to beat John Cornyn in 2008. But first things first, we've got another Noriega to get elected first, Rick's wife Melissa. She ably took his place in the Legislature when he served our country in Afghanistan in 2005 and now she's running for Houston City Council.

Even if you don't live in Houston, this race matters.

There's more...