(Crossposted at
MyDD,
Burnt Orange Report, and
Texas Kos--please recommend if you like what you read. Thanks.)
It's been an exciting last few months. I have been working very hard to get support in my bid to defeat Lamar Smith and bring a real voice for positive change to Texas Congressional District 21. Thanks to you, the netroots, I have been honored by becoming your Democracy for America Grassroots All-Star and your Senator Feingold Progressive Patriot.
Now I am on the threshold of getting into the final round of Governor Mark Warner's Mapchanger contest, with just a few hours left to vote, and I wanted to let you know about our campaign and what we have been up to down here in Central Texas.
As some of our initial
poll results show, the support that Lamar Smith has here in CD21 is very weak. And it should come as no surprise--voting to drill in ANWR, to sell public lands to mining companies, and to repeal the endangered species act is an easy way to gain a 0% rating from the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, and the Texas Environmental Watch Alliance. Voting consistently AGAINST veterans and our current brave young men and women while you vote for our own pay raise will make that happen. Not being supportive of public education and sitting idly by while tuition rates skyrocket, pell grants get cut, and higher education is made more difficult to receive--that'll do it.
But our supporters have not sat idly by in the way that Lamar has. When Lamar came into the University of Texas to pose as a friend to students, students showed up with signs reading "Lamar, stop the raid on student aid!" and a few "F" report cards:
Click the picture for video
Daily Texan Online
When Lamar Smith showed up to Austin City Hall to pose as an environmentalist, the Team Courage Truth Squad was there as well, with placards reading "It's easy to see through Lamar Smith's election year pandering" as well as a multitude of "0%" signs:
KVUE-TV, Austin, TX
Weblink: Click here
We are running an aggressive campaign on the ground, but I need your help today. Lamar Smith has been a henchman and a lieutenant of Tom DeLay--voting with him over 95% of the time, and even giving a $10,000 donation to his legal defense fund. He took a seat on the House Ethics Committee and voted to weaken House ethics rules. And when asked about his donation to DeLay? He said everyone in America is entitled to a good legal defense, even Tom DeLay.
He doesn't hide from it, and he doesn't think he is going anywhere, but thousands upon thousands of supporters think differently--and we hope you do too.
Our race needs to be in the national spotlight--Lamar Smith is positioning himself to become the House Judiciary Chair, and will undoubtedly vote to weaken the Voting Rights Act. Lamar wants to spend $1.2 trillion on building a physical wall between the U.S. and Mexico (and that doesn't begin to address his desire for the border to be militarized.) Lamar Smith wants to keep our troops in Iraq indefinitely, but I support benchmark goals similar to the plan of John Murtha to bring our brave young men and women home.
This is a very important race, and these are just some of the issues at stake--and today, I need your help.
The $5,000 that comes with becoming a Mark Warner Mapchanger Top 5 candidate will really help our race. We've already raised more than I raised in my entire last campaign, when our district was much different.
I humbly ask for you to vote for me as your #1 choice in the western category by clicking here:
Click here to vote NOW
You can send the message to vote for me to a friend by visiting:
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I truly appreciate all the support you have given me already. I look forward to representing all of you in Congress.
Moving forward together,
John Courage