Richard Morrison appeared tonight at a meeting of the Victoria (Texas) Democrats Club. Victoria is 120 miles from Houston, a semi-rural red county amid 15 other entirely-rural red counties. After he announced that he was dropping out of the race, we contacted him to see if he wanted to cancel his planned appearance here--after all, it's a two-hour drive each way--but he would have none of it.
The topics of conversation were forward-looking. There was no elegy for a venture ended, just energy and good humor about the road that has brought him this far, and where he, and Texas Democrats, will go next. He was generous in his advice about how to build support for the party and local candidates. He talked about other candidates, the Democratic party, and a little about his family. He not only offered to come back, but vowed to--a remarkable thing, because Victoria is not exactly a hot spot on the Texas political circuit.
Among the things we learned:
- He is already raising money to run again in 2008! (I don't know for which office; I doubt he'd challenge a Democrat who successfully defeated DeLay, however.)
- He is starting a PAC to help Texas Democratic candidates use the media to fend off aggressive Republican opponents. He laughed that it would be like "Swift Boat Veterans", only it really would involve the truth. He detailed specific plans, and does not seem to have any intention to leave politics any time soon.
- He urged us to be "partisan Democrats", supporting any Democrat regardless of idealogy. "Just as long as they're a 'D'," he said, he would support them. That way, we'd get Nancy Pelosi as speaker instead of DeLay, a goal important enough to overlook any disagreement.
- DeLay's next challenger, as some already know, is either Nick Lampson or Gordon Quan. While Lampson is already out raising money for the position, which is a plus, Gordon Quan is likely to appeal to perhaps 12% of the Asian voters who normally vote Republican, thus doubling his impact. He'll support either. Gordon Quan is polling the district and will decide whether to run for the seat based on those poll results.
- DeLay himself is now the #1 target in the 2006 election, both by locals and by the DCCC. DeLay's local approval ratings took a nosedive after his interference with the Schiavo family. (That, despite the fact that about a third of Republican votes in that district come from the religious right.)
- While he did have many, many volunteers helping him on his campaign, only about 25 people were needed to get everything done. So any candidate can make a difference, even with a small group of dedicated people.
- He had about 7000 donors, none of whom were the big Democratic donors. 2000 of his donors gave $50 or less. With that, he was the biggest threat ever to arguably the most powerful Republican in the country.
- He described Rep. Chris Bell as incredibly brave for filing an ethics complaint against DeLay because it involved not only defying Republican leadership, but Democratic leadership in Washington too. They strongly discouraged Bell from filing the complaint because "their hands aren't clean either".
- The most crucial thing any candidate can do, in his opinion, is give Democrats a sense of hope. That, and spend 10 hours a day on the phone raising money.
His visit brought so much energy and hope that everyone left the meeting buzzed, from the most old-guard DLC type to the Deaniac.
Next month, Rep. Chris Bell will speak to the group. I'm hoping he'll tell us more about those unclean hands.