Club for Growth pushes Cuellar

It's pretty much like this: Being a friend of the Club for Growth is not anything a Democrat should want to be. It's roughly equivalent to MoveOn making an endorsement in a Republican primary. So go support the Democrat who isn't on the Club for Growth's Valentine's card list. And go read Latinos for Texas' interview with Ciro.

Over in SD19, Frank Madla is not very happy about the release of the infamous lock the Democrats in the trunk video.

Madla said he was addressing supporters at a Jan. 10 fundraiser where Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, a Republican, was a featured guest.

The campaign of state Rep. Carlos Uresti, who's challenging Madla for his seat in the March Democratic primary, disseminated the video last week in an e-mailed news release headlined: "What Frank Madla thinks of Democrats ... " It goes on to identify Uresti as "a real Democrat."

"I think it demonstrates the kind of campaign my opponent is waging," Madla said.

He accused Uresti's camp of orchestrating the taping and said the person who recorded the scene lied at the time about why she was at the event.

But Uresti said his campaign had nothing to do with that.

"We didn't send anybody to the fundraiser," he said. "Somebody brought it to us."

OK, here's the thing. Reaching across the aisle, working well with others, being bipartisan - these are all, in general, good things. What's chapping everybody's hide here, and the same is true of many national figures that get scorned by the netroots, is the idea that you first have to deny who you are in order to do your bipartisan reaching across the aisle thing. Be proud of your party for pete's sake, and make a habit of reinforcing the good qualities of your party that you proudly share that makes you such an effective aisle-reacher. Say things like "As a good Democrat who believes in getting things done for his constituents, I know the benefits of working with honorable members of the Republican Party like Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst, whose support I'm happy to have." See the difference? It's a little thing, but it means a lot.

Matt has a Quorum Report piece on the SD19 race. Madla's got a lot of institutional support, but Carlos Uresti seems to be hitting a nerve. We'll see if that translates to votes.

Endorsement watch: The DMN weighs in for Chris Bell, while the Star Telegram gives its nod to Barbara Radnofsky. I figure sooner or later the Chron will have to start making its endorsements. There's twenty days to go, and early voting starts next week.

David Van Os notes that indicted TRMPAC operative John Colyandro was on Greg Abbott's payroll during the same time in 2002 as the crimes he's accused of committing.

I see that Tom DeLay is attacking primary opponent Tom Campbell. Now why would a guy who expects to cruise to victory in his primary need to do that? Oh, and this is too precious for words:

In a statement, DeLay's campaign said Campbell has received "such little support" in the 22nd District that he's been forced to raise money by "hitting the road," adding, "Yesterday, Campbell was in Utah holding a fund raiser to take money from students at his alma mater, Brigham Young."

"Tom Campbell needs to take a hint – if he's getting more campaign support in Utah, he should consider staying there," Homan said.

Yeah, that's Tom DeLay criticizing someone for his fundraising practices. We do live in strange times, do we not?

Finally, a couple of notes from outside Texas. ArchPundit is calling for people to support John Sullivan, whom he compares favorably to Ciro Rodriguez. Read a condensed version why here.

And via Julia, meet the New York GOP's family-values sacrificial lambcandidate against Hillary Clinton, one John Spencer.

For most of his mayoralty, rumors swirled that Spencer was having an affair with his unmarried chief of staff, Kathy Spring, who bore two children during that time. For years, Spencer refused to discuss the relationship or address the possibility of a conflict of interest involving Spring, a City Hall staff member who saw her annual salary increase to $138,000 from $52,000 working for Spencer.

In 2002, after announcing a possible run for Westchester county executive — he was barred from seeking a third mayoral term by his own 1994 term-limits law — Spencer publicly acknowledged that he had fathered Spring's children. After finalizing a divorce from his wife, Eileen, Spencer married Spring, now 43.

"I met her when I was going through matters of the heart with my first wife," he said. "My children ... were conceived in love."

He said his infidelity was "ironically" in the public interest. "I didn't have to make an appointment with my chief of staff to go over everything. That's all we did."

Yes, he values families so much, he started a collection of his own. You almost have to admire the chutzpah. Almost.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on February 15, 2006 to Election 2006 | TrackBack