The Blue State

Gingrich: '08 GOP candidate must offer "dramatic, bold change"

Just one day removed from President Bush's Iraq speech and some of the most well-known Republicans are already running for cover.  Newt Gingrich is one of them:

"If you don't represent real change, you just gave away the 2008election," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who led theRepublican takeover of the House of Representatives in 1994 and now isflirting with a White House run.

Gingrich cited the Iraq war, the failed federal response toHurricane Katrina two years ago and the inability to control U.S.borders and illegal immigration as evidence of a need for a completeoverhaul of the U.S. system of governing.

"Now that may or may not make the White House happy. But I thinkthat's the whole point about making a clean break," Gingrich told agroup of reporters over breakfast.

He added: "I believe for any Republican to win in 2008 they have to... offer a dramatic, bold change. If we nominate somebody who has notdone that, they get to be the nominee but there is very, very littlelikelihood that they can win."

It will be extremely difficult for any of them, with the exception of Ron Paul, to differentiate themselves from the President on his Iraq policy.  They may try during the 2008 election.  If they do, Democrats will simply go to the video and point out all the flip-flops.

TX-22: John O'Neill of Swift Boat group helping GOP hold DeLay's seat

John O'Neill, who is the head of the Swift Boat Vets for Truth group that aided Karl Rove's offensive game plan against John Kerry in 2004, is trying to help the GOP keep Tom DeLay's vacated House seat in the red column.  Republican candidate Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who currently faces an uphill battle as a write-in candidate against Democratic opponent Nick Lampson, received direct financial backing from Mr. O'Neill.  On May 1, 2006, O'Neill sent a $2,100 check to the Shelley Sekula-Gibbs for Congress Campaign Committee.

Two important factors make this interesting.  One, John O'Neill has always donated carefully.  His only other notable donation since 2004 was a $2,100 check to Rick Santorum last December.  And second, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs was not endorsed by her party until August 17th because Sugarland Mayor David Wallace also wanted to run.  In other words, John O'Neill, who is a respected figure inside the GOP establishment, made such an early donation because he may have thought it would move the rest of the big GOP donors to immediately back her.  This is the one case where the domino theory applies: one well-known Republican leads, and others follow.  All it took was three months after O'Neill's contribution to Shelley Sekula-Gibbs for the GOP establishment's support of any other candidate to collapse and back her. 

Now that Sekula-Gibbs is at the mercy of the GOP establishment, if she wins in November don't expect the curse of corruption that surrounded Tom DeLay to leave this House seat anytime soon.

Also, this helps erode the right-wing perception that John O'Neill was just a concerned citizen genuinely upset at John Kerry for abandoning his band of brothers.  In reality, John O'Neill is a Republican insider, and can move other donors to follow his lead.  By playing a role in the GOP backing of Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, he has helped raise his own status within the party.

Now that Nick Lampson is up against a candidate that is backed by the head of the Swift Boat for Vets group, you know that the dirty attacks will start to fly.  Lampson needs our help as small individual donors so that he can define himself before the GOP establishment launches their smears.  Please get involved or contribute to the Lampson Campaign in any way that you can.

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Other sites blogging about this race: Political Wire, Ed Schultz, The Daily Background, Swing State Project, MyDD, Truth Serum Blog, Sandwich Repair Kit, Huffington Post, SQ, DFlers, Half Empty, Crimes and Corruptions of the New World, Black Wednesday, BCDP News, Bay Area Houston, Bryan's Blog, Daily Kos.

TX-22: The hammer wanna-be for write-in

Today, almost twenty days after declaring his intention to run, Sugar Land, Texas Mayor David Wallace made it official that he will run in Tom DeLay's spot as the Republican candidate for the 22nd District U.S. House seat.  With the Republican-dominated courts ruling that no GOP candidate other than lobbyist-friend Tom DeLay can be on the ballot, Wallace can only run as a write-in candidate.

And right off the bat, we are learning that Wallace's campaign style is analogous to the one perfected by Tom DeLay.  That style is to use the word "liberal" as much as possible when it comes to smearing his opposition.  Wallace proved yesterday that he is getting the hang of it:

"I will be taking the fight to Nick Lampson and his liberal allies every day," said Wallace, the mayor of Sugar Land, Texas.

The only problem was that he forgot to include the part about liberals wanting terrorist-friendly policies -- which just so happens to be RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman's slanderous game plan for preventing Democratic Party victories this November.

As far as campaign contributions are concerned, Wallace only has a total of $157,814 on hand, compared with Democrat Nick Lampson's $2,157,016 cash on hand that has been raised for the most part by small donors via the internet.  So you can expect the big-time lobbyists and Washington establishment Republicans to start pouring money into the Wallace Campaign immediately in order to even things out.

With the Republican attacks imminent, Nick Lampson really needs our help.  If you live in the 22nd District or are watching this race from somewhere else in the country as an interested onlooker, Lampson's campaign relies on small donations from people like you.  If possible, please either contribute or volunteer in any way that you can!  Tom DeLay is refusing to run again, and wants to pursue  a career in the lobbying industry in order to get back the money he lost in legal bills.  Let's hope that the 22nd District doesn't elect someone else whose goal it is to surround himself with the lobbying community.  Wallace and DeLay know each other pretty well.  Gee, I wonder who Wallace would be loyal to if he got elected!
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Other sites blogging about this issue: Capitol Annex, Wonkette, Votelaw, Down with Tyranny, The Carpetbagger Report, Half Empty, Scotus Blog, Musings, Political Wire, Easter Lemming Liberal News, MLM Liberal, Influence Peddler, Truth Serum Blog.

TX-22: Scalia declines to do DeLay a favor

If he could have gotten away with it, then he would have!  But Justice Antonin Scalia's rejection of a last-minute plea that would have allowed the Supreme Court to get involved in the Tom DeLay ballot issue was the only ruling to make.  As a long-time hunting buddy of Vice President Dick Cheney, Scalia was always thought of as a judicial activist whose sole purpose was to rubber stamp GOP policies.  Had he accepted the DeLay case, it probably would have triggered Judiciary Committee hearings in both houses, adding yet another item to the laundry list of GOP scandals as we get closer to November.

Just in case you need a little refresher on what happened, DeLay won his party's primary in March, making him the GOP nominee in the 22nd District of Texas.  Then, after realizing that he might lose to Democratic challenger Nick Lampson this November, DeLay suddenly bowed out.  The Democrats argued that because DeLay won the primary, he had to be the nominee.  And if he refused to be on the ballot, then no other Republican could run.  In short, here is how the court battle went down:

A Republican federal judge in Texas ruled in favor of the Democraticargument last month, and that ruling was upheld by the U.S. Court ofAppeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans last week. With the electionless than 100 days away, Texas Republicans appealed to the SupremeCourt yesterday to stay the appeals court ruling and allow them to picka new candidate to stand against Democrat Nick Lampson in November.That appeal was routed to Scalia, who denied it just two hours after itwas received.

That brings us to where we are now.  With Tom DeLay staying on the ballot, he will have to put his dream of becoming a K-Street lobbyist on hold.

This seat is up for grabs, and the Democrats can pick it up.  Volunteers at the Nick Lampson Campaign down in Texas are working hard to defeat Tom DeLay: the poster-boy of corruption.  The Lampson Campaign can use our help!  Please contribute or volunteer in any way that you can.  We need to win this seat to help kick the corrupt GOP out of the House and hold the Bush Administration fully accountable for putting America's future in danger.
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Other sites blogging about this story: Copeland Institute for Lower Learning, Injustice Anywhere, Jurist, Suburban Guerrilla, The Green Knight, Left Word, Hill Country Gal, AmericaBlog.

DeLay's Democratic opponent raised total of $3 million

Tom DeLay is still waiting to hear from an appeals court about whether his name must remain on the ballot for Congress.  The Houston Chronicle reported this morning that it might be between late-July and mid-August before we know the answer.  His Democratic challenger for U.S. Congress, Nick Lampson, is flying high when it comes to fund-raising:

HOUSTON Democrat Nick Lampson hasraised more than 600-thousand dollars during the most recent reportingperiod in his bid for the seat of former Congressman Tom DeLay.

That brings Lampson's total raised so far to about three (m) million, says his campaign.  DeLay resigned in June and wants his name off the ballot. And the G-O-P wants DeLay replaced with another candidate.A federal judge ruled last month that DeLay's name must stay on the ballot, but Republicans have appealed.DeLay has said he will wait until after that court rules before deciding whether to jump back in the race.  Heis awaiting trial on state conspiracy and money laundering chargesconnected to the funding of state legislative races in 2002.

Lampson served four terms in Congress representing a district that was redrawn and cost him his seat in 2004.

Expecting that Tom DeLay will be on the ballot, the Republicans will throw all their dirty tricks they have at Lampson.  Nothing would tick off Tom DeLay and his lobbyist friends more than for Lampson to take his Democratic vision to the airwaves, and expose the crooked Republican's dealings for all of his district to hear.  If you can, please contribute to the Nick Lampson Campaign, as all of us continue this uniquely progressive netroots effort to take back the House this November.  Let's show our elected officials in Washington how important the netroots is, and that we cannot be ignored.