Welcome to Texans for Obama

2008 Democratic Primary Calendar

The Souther Primary begins on March 4, 2008 and ends on March 11.  One week.  It's an uphill challenge, but Texans for Obama can help lead the fight for a better tomorrow.  We'll win Texas, and we'll sweep the South.  If the race is still competitive going into March 4, then we'll help tip the scales.

  * January 14 2008 - Iowa
  * January 19 2008 - Nevada
  * January 22 2008 - New Hampshire
  * January 29 2008 - South Carolina
  * February 5 2008 - Delaware, Missouri
  * February 12 2008 - District of Columbia, Tennessee, Virginia
  * February 19 2008 - Wisconsin
  * February 26 2008 - Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, New Jersey
* March 2008 (date to be determined) - American Samoa, Democrats Abroad, Guam, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Virgin Islands, Wyoming
  * March 4 2008 - Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, Texas
  * March 7 2008 - Colorado, Utah
  * March 8 2008 - Kansas
  * March 11 2008 - Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma
  * March 18 2008 - Illinois, Oregon
  * April 2008 (date to be determined) - Alaska
  * April 1 2008 - Pennsylvania
  * May 6 2008 - Indiana, North Carolina
  * May 13 2008 - Nebraska, West Virginia
  * May 20 2008 - Arkansas, Kentucky
  * May 27 2008 - Washington
  * June 3 2008 - Alabama, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, California

Obama offers a `Meet John Doe' candidacy

Obama's civil approach will improve the overall tone of the 2008 campaign.

From Michael Goodwin of the New York Daily News:

I don't know whether Illinois Sen. Barack Obama will be our next president. I do know that, win or lose, Obama will have a huge impact on the 2008 campaign, one that will force others in the race to mind their manners. Think of him as the "Meet John Doe" candidate.

In a crowded field of bare-knuckle insiders easy to depict as partisan dividers, Obama is casting himself as a uniter. One who can cross all kinds of lines. And smile at the same time.

The racial line is the most obvious, he of the white American mother and black African father. And he clearly aims to make a virtue of his short two years on the national stage by challenging all "our leaders in Washington."

Most important, Obama has a natural, easygoing warmth. He headed the Harvard Law Review, yet his manner appears unassuming, even modest. John Doe, indeed.

For now, his approach threatens everybody else in his party, starting with Sen. Hillary Clinton. Polls show her as the ultimate divider, and although she has taken steps toward the center, if nominated, she could probably win only in a close and bitter election.

John Edwards, the other top Dem contender, is so far left and identified with "attack" politics that he would likely fade next to Obama.

All that assumes that Obama's sizzle doesn't fizzle and that his strengths stay that way. At the very least, if he plays his role right, the others will have to follow his lead by putting away the brass knuckles and developing the common touch on the stump. That alone would be a happy ending straight out of Hollywood.

The Obama era

This political pundit thinks Hillary will win the nomination, but it's no longer a done deal with Sen. Obama in the race.  Either way, a spirited primary between high profile candidates is a win-win situation for the Democratic Party.  The Republicans have lost the momentum, and once-unbeatable John McCain has come to symbolize the failing Iraq policy.

From Susan Estrich of Fox News:

In a nominating calendar in which more and more states are clustered at the start, the opportunities for a true insurgent become more limited. Before you begin, you must be ready to win. You must be organized in more states, sooner, ready to move faster, than in any prior year. You must be able to raise $100 million, much if not most of it before the first vote is cast.

True unknowns can’t do that. Longshots can’t do that. Obama can do that.

Hillary is strong, but she is also vulnerable. She is experienced, but some of her experience will be counted against her. She is known, but what many people know they don’t like. She is better positioned for a general election than for the Democratic primaries and caucuses. Hillary is the front runner, but she is by no means inevitable. Racism is real, but sexism may be more powerful. Hillary voted for the war, and Obama wasn’t there.

Edwards is barely more experienced than Obama. He is against the war now, but he voted for it when he had the chance. He is older than Obama, but he doesn’t look it. Obama has actually been in politics longer than Edwards, has held elective office longer than Hillary, is virtually the same age her husband was when he ran.

The issue will not be whether Obama has good enough experience, but whether he is good enough as a candidate. He can’t afford to say the wrong thing. A mistake will be read as not ready. But he has no record of bad votes to defend, no troublesome inconsistent statements from past campaigns to explain away.

I’m still putting my money on Mrs.Clinton, but she can no longer claim inevitability as her argument. Not with Obama in the race. If she beats him, she will be a stronger candidate for it. If she doesn’t, he will have proven himself a better candidate for the Democrats. Win-win, I’d say, and a race worth watching.

Republicans beware. The Democrats have more than one rock star in the race. The Republicans are divided and struggling. McCain has come to be the symbol of an increasingly unpopular war. He doesn't look nearly so unbeatable as he used to. What a difference a year makes. One more 'til Iowa....

Reporters Swarm Obama After Announcement

This is an interesting story.  Apparently Senator Joe Biden, who's been running for president for virtually his entire life, has gotten a little jealous of Sen. Obama's recent rock-star media blitz.  As chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, Biden made a petty parlimentary move and tried to cut off Obama during important questioning  on the Iraq war.  Meanwhile, Biden was spending his time laughing at private jokes.

This is the United States Senate, Mr. Biden.  Grow up.  Just becase Sen. Obama is the only candidate who didn't support the Iraq war in 2002 doesn't mean you should try to cut him off and make private jokes during important hearings on the Iraq war.

From the Associated Press:

A photographer or two on the beach in Hawaii is nothing compared to the Capitol Hill swarm that greeted the newest presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama.

Emerging from a lunch with colleagues Wednesday, reporters pressed the Illinois Democrat, who gave away little about his budding campaign. His appearance at a routine committee hearing drew every camera in the room, while the more senior senators who are thinking of running were ignored.

"Is there something rare at this table among competitors?" a smiling Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., remarked as he sat with Obama on his left and two other potential 2008 candidates Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joe Biden of Delaware on his right.

Biden, the committee chairman, could have been accused of trying to undercut his rivals.

Biden and Kerry had been whispering and laughing at a private joke while Obama questioned the panel of experts promoting a diplomatic strategy in Iraq.

"I have eight seconds? That's enough to get one question in," Obama said.

But as he started to talk, Biden cut him off. "You're out of time, but go for it," Biden said with a wave of his hand.