Today I attended the Grand Opening of the Fort Bend (County, TX) Democratic Headquarters. Fort Bend County contains a large part of TX-22, which as most of you know just lost our local congressman, Mr. Tom "Bugman" DeLay. Fort Bend County has been a reliably Republican district for years, but apparently the Republicans fear they are losing their iron grip on it, causing DeLay to turn tail and run; but not before sending a group of thugs (many of whom were the local Republican party leaders) to physically disrupt a press conference held by the Democratic challenger, Nick Lampson, last week.
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The grand opening of the headquarters today was attended by a standing room only crowd. I'm not good at estimating numbers, but the place was packed, with more people standing outside. Many of the local candidates made brief speeches, but the top draws were Chris Bell, candidate for governor of Texas, and Nick Lampson. I had the chance to meet Lampson briefly when he came in. We shook hands, and I told him I was looking forward to being represented by someone I was not ashamed of for a change. He said, "You mean someone who makes headlines for the right reasons instead of all the wrong reasons?" When he got up to speak to the crowd, he thanked everyone for having supported him up to this point. He stressed that this was not all about him, it was about us, the voters. He thinks it is unacceptable that due to the maneuverings of DeLay and Gov. Perry, TX-22 will be without a representative for seven months, during hurricane season, during wartime, and who knows what else. That's what he was trying to say at the press conference that got disrupted by the mob earlier in the week. He is optimistic that we can win, but reminded us that there is still a LOT of work to do, block walking, raising money, putting those bumper stickers on our cars.
It's the first time I had seen Lampson speak; he has a good style I think, polished but not overly so, and enthusiastic, with a good way of reaching out to the crowd. All the speakers, BTW, seemed really pleased with the size of the crowd.
Chris Bell has a different style. He is more reserved and dry, at least at first. But once he warmed up, he had some good lines:
"Don't be fooled by Carole Strayhorn saying she's an independent, because she's been a Republican for 20 years. I can call my dog a horse, but he's still a dog."
He had a really good theme that I think we should steal: The New Mainstream. He said that Republicans are always accusing Democrats of being out of the mainstream. Then he asked us to look around the room (a pretty diverse crowd.) This, he said, IS the mainstream. We are the new mainstream, not the Republicans who are truly out of touch with what really matters to most Americans. I may not have described that as well as he said it, but I hope you get the picture. Steal it, work it, expand on it. We are the NEW MAINSTREAM!
It was a very enthusiastic group of Democrats today, not just because of the free hot dogs and apple pie. I think we truly are beginning to feel that things are changing, and that maybe we have a chance to take it back---oh, and by the way, the group held an impromptu fund raiser by having Chris Bell autograph the leftover DUMP DE LAY yard signs that are now obsolete, and selling them as souvenirs!
One more thing: no thugs disrupted the speeches today. They probably saw how big the crowd was, and decided against it!