Money, Honey
It's the 2nd quarter fundraising reporting deadline! Senator John Cornyn walloped his challenger, Rick Noriega in 2nd quarter fundraising. As for cash-on-hand, Cornyn's stash is ten times the size of Noriega's, which is going to come in really handy as people start paying attention to this race after Labor Day. A look at the top lines:
CORNYN
2nd quarter fundraising: $1.7 million
Cash-on-hand: $9.4 million
NORIEGA
2nd quarter fundraising: $930,000
Cash-on-hand: $915,506
Thoughts?
Obama Links Austin to... Pittsburgh?
Who can blame Barack Obama for loving him some Austin? After all, Travis County voters went with Obama two-to-one in the March primary. And while he was here in the much cooler months of February and March, he got a good enough taste of Austin to realize he liked it more than he expected. That's according to the New York Times, anyway:
Senator Barack Obama marveled at the view here in Big Sky Country. He discovered that the gumbo in New Orleans was far tastier than in Chicago. And he was pleasantly surprised that he loved Austin, Tex., and its music -- but who doesn't?
Later in the story, we get to Obama's quote.
"A place that I've come to love, which I did not expect until this campaign, is Texas," he said in an interview the other day aboard his campaign plane, a patchwork of the countryside passing below him. "I ended up loving Texas! I've been struck by how many beautiful places there are in the country that you don't necessarily think of as beautiful. Pittsburgh, for example, is a really handsome town with the rivers and the hills."
Not sure if that was one of those backhanded compliments. There's the whole lumping Texas in with Pittsburgh thing. And the construction of the sentence makes me wonder why he did not "necessarily" think of Texas as beautiful in the first place. Aw man! If the Senator needs more convincing of the state's natural beauty, I think Pete Gallego could give him a nice
tour around his district...
The Best of the Obama-Bashing Bumper Stickers
The Texas GOP got more than 1,300 entries in the contest for their official 2008 bumper sticker slogan. They have narrowed it down to five finalists:
Obama for Change? That's all you'll have left in your pockets!
Obama won't change me -- I'm voting GOP
High gas prices? Thank a Democrat this November
Barack Obama? Liberal like McGovern, Prepared like Carter
Barack Obama -- The Audacity of HYPE
OK to vote on your favorite, click here. The deadline to vote is 12pm next THURSDAY, July 3rd. Have fun..
"$10 Million in Texas"
A lot of press is focused today on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's opting out on public campaign financing. He becomes the first presidential candidate to forgo public money. And it's a reversal of his earlier position.
His campaign is explaining it by saying the public system has been so gamed by special interests that it wasn't something he wanted to be part of anymore. The practical reality for the Obama campaign is that it won't have limits on its spending anymore.
Time's political guru Mark Halperin often does "his take" on political events in bullet form, and in his take on this -- he mentioned a potential impact for Texas:
"Obama will now be able to, say, spend $10 million on Texas television ads, giving McCain some tough choices to make."
Texas is an expensive state in which to run ads, with its twenty media markets, including two in the top ten (Dallas-FW and Houston-Galveston). But "say, $10 million" could go a long way for Democrats downballot, and as Halperin notes, force McCain into different spending scenarios for a state he should easily win.
About That Racist Campaign Button...
This ongoing live coverage of the Texas Governor's Mansion investigation/restoration is keeping me away from the blogging and instead standing outside on street corners. Apologies.
Just a quick update on the controversial anti-Obama button that is shown here, and was sold at the Texas Republican Party convention last week. Here's the AP:
The Texas GOP says it'll donate to Midwestern flood victims the proceeds of a vendor who sold a racist campaign button at the state convention last weekend.
A vendor called Republicanmarket.com sold a button that said "If Obama is president ... will we still call it The White House?" The button was sold in a pavilion adjoining the Houston convention hall where the state Republicans convened last week.
Besides donating the $1,500 rent the party collected from the vendor, the state GOP also will bar it from booth space at future events. State GOP spokesman Hans Klingler says the party wants to encourage the vendor "to clean up his act."
State GOP officials also have alerted the Republican National Convention in hopes that the vendor, Jonathon Alcox, won't be allowed to sell merchandise at the national Republican convention.
And another update, from our friends at the Dallas Morning News:
The vendor who sold a racist pin at the Texas Republican Party convention last weekend in Houston apologized today and said he had no intention of creating the firestorm that has ensued.
"It's just been crazy," said Jonathan Alcox, who runs republicanmarket.com and had buttons and other items for sale at the GOP gathering. "The point is we made a mistake. I realize that now. And I apologize."
OK I now return to regularly scheduled time outside the Governor's Mansion.
Begin Your Bumper Sticker Brainstorming!
The Texas Republican Party needs your help. The party wants to "spread the word across the state about Barack Obama and his liberal schemes" and is calling on Republicans in the Lone Star state to help submit ideas for the official Republican Party of Texas 2008 campaign bumper sticker. The image to the left has clearly already been thought up by someone else (though I do think it's pretty clever). So let's see what kind of ideas contest participants will come up with.
UPDATE 4:09pm: Obama campaign spokesman Josh Earnest responds: "Americans in both parties are tired of the divisive, bumper sticker slogans from the Bush-McCain Republicans. It's why Senator Obama is having so much success bringing the country together and building a nationwide grassroots movement for change that will get America back on track."
