Tiffany and I attended the HCDP Texas Heroes event last night. It was a great opportunity to hang with some folks I've come to know over the past couple of years, and also to meet some people I've been blogging about. On the blogging side, Stace was there taking pictures, while Marc Olivier, Lyn Wall, and John Cobarruvias were there representing the Houston Democrats. We walked into the event with Keir, who was there with CD22 challenger, former Rep. Nick Lampson. Lampson was one of many Democrats to say a few words during the event. He's a lot more fiery than you might think, something I'd experienced previously.

Quite a few of the Harris County State Rep delegation was there, along with US Reps Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green. All of them exuded optimism for 2006. All of the state reps felt that they had done quite a bit to block bad legislation, and that the Republicans messed up badly by not delivering on school finance reform as they'd promised. They all expressed the belief that Democrats can and will make gains in the Lege next year.

Towards that end, I had the pleasure of meeting three candidates for the Lege: Ellen Cohen, Borris Miles (note the spelling), and Janette Sexton. Cohen and Miles you've heard of, and both of them confirmed that they are in the races for HD134 (against Republican Martha Wong) and HD146 (against Craddick Democrat Al Edwards, who was also there last night), respectively. Sexton, who is a precinct chair in Pasadena, is set to run against Robert Talton in HD144. I collected business cards from Miles and Sexton and had a bit more of a chance to chat with them than with Cohen. Both of them expressed great frustration with their current representatives, and both of them sound like they're ready to do what it takes to win. I told them both about Texas Tuesdays, and will be contacting them shortly to let them know what the online community can do for them.

One candidate whom I spotted but didn't get a chance to say hello to was Robert Pham, who is reported to be running in HD133. That means that four of the top five priorities for State Rep races in Harris County (the other being HD138, Dwayne Bohac) are set with candidates already. I don't know about you, but I think that's a great sign.

Other folks I spoke to: Barbara Radnofsky, who was showing off her new campaign manager (alas, I've forgotten his name), Chris Bell, whom I had not met in person before, City Council members Ron Green and Gordon Quan, and Council candidates Mark Lee and Jay Aiyer. I'm probably forgetting some others, and for that I apologize. One of my cousins now works in Gordon Quan's office, which shows that however big Harris County may be, Houston is still just a big ol' small town. I couldn't resist asking Quan if he'd consider running in CD07. He laughed and said basically that anything was possible. He and Lampson are supposed to be having a sitdown soon, so we may hear something more there shortly.

All in all, a good time was had. I wish I'd had more time to talk to people, but I think the time I spent was pretty productive. I'll follow up as I can.

UPDATE: Here's Stace's writeup.

UPDATE: Barbara Radnofsky's campaign manager is Andy Grout. Thanks to Robert for the reminder, and my sincere apologies to Mr. Grout.