Today, Rick Noriega will make the official announcement of his forming an exploratory committee for US Senate. The time and place are the same as they had been for Thursday, for those of you in or near Austin who want to attend.

Obviously, those of us who have been encouraging Noriega to throw his hat into the ring are very happy to see this day arrive. We believe - I believe - that Noriega is a great candidate to take on John Cornyn, and that his candidacy will generate the kind of excitement for a Democratic office seeker that we haven't seen in a long time in this state. That excitement gets its official beginning today in Austin.

On a more pragmatic note, what this also means is that Noriega can start fundraising. We all know that both Cornyn and Mikal Watts have a ton of money at their disposal. While I believe that Rick Noriega will ultimately have the resources he needs to compete against Cornyn, he doesn't start out with millions already in the bank. He may never truly catch up to either of his opponents in raw cash.

But what I believe Rick Noriega will have is broad support that comes from all over Texas, from people who are already heavily involved in politics and from people who have never really gotten involved before. There's one sure way to demonstrate that, and that's by getting donations from a broad swath of the population. He may not be able to build a pile of cash as high as the others can, but he can beat them in sheer numbers of donors. All things considered, I'd rather have that.

You can help with this effort. As of today, the Rick Noriega ActBlue page is active. We supporters of Rick Noriega for Senate would like to kick things off by finding 800 people to click that link and make a donation to Rick's efforts. It doesn't have to be a lot - we appreciate anything you feel comfortable giving - just being on board with the campaign makes a difference. If you're ready for a new generation of leadership in this state - if you're ready for a Senator who will owe his allegiance to you rather than to the big money PACs - then please stand up and say so by making a donation to Rick Noriega. Every little bit, every single donation, really does help.

Thank you for your consideration. As you may imagine, I'll have plenty more to say about this as we go along.