I mentioned this in the previous post, but do take a moment to read this John Young column about the Texas Parent PAC and Diane Trautman. A little taste:
Diane Trautman is running for the statehouse. By appearances, Joe Crabb couldn’t care less.
No, Crabb isn’t some voter who can’t get his head off of “Dancing with the Stars.†He’s the incumbent.
I say “by appearances,†because observers in his district say Crabb, R-Atascocita, hasn’t made many.
By contrast, Trautman, a career educator, has an army knocking on doors in the Houston-area district.
Why is she campaigning hard and he hardly campaigning? It’s probably because the seven-term Republican has one of those districts that is as gift-wrapped for his purposes like candied fruit. He won last time with nearly 70 percent of the vote. Yet now many observers consider Crabb’s district in play.
Why? Because of a strong challenger, enthusiastic volunteers and a new creature called the Texas Parent PAC.
I wish Young had expanded on the “now many observers consider Crabb’s district in play” comment – I’d like to know which observers he has in mind. I’ve said it before, this is a tough, tough district for a Democrat. If this district is considered to be in play, even “likely Republican” play, that’s huge.
Trautman is a great candidate. In a just world, she’d win this race in a walk. She’s clearly gotten some traction, if the (highly unscientific survey of) comments in this Chron politics blog post are any indicator. Can she move enough people to her corner in this 70-30 district to win? I’m rooting for her, but to say the least, if she does do it, this will have been one hell of an Election Day for Texas Democrats.