This is cross-posted from Burnt Orange Report.
I want Chris Bell to be the next Governor of Texas because he doesn't play the best kind of politics and he doesn't run the best campaign. Instead, he focuses on identifying problems and offering successful solutions. Chris Bell is best at policy -- and it's policy, not the empty rhetoric of politics -- that is finally going to turn Texas around.
Bell doesn't play the best kind of politics. When everyone asked him to play nice, sit down, and shut up, he refused. Instead he spoke his mind, fully knowing he would be critiqued and attacked for his actions for years to come. For Bell, though, it didn't matter. He felt too strongly and cared too deeply to stay on the sidelines and not force everyone to identify the problem at hand. As a result of Bell's actions, Tom Delay received his first chink in his armor.
The Abramoff investigations followed, along with the indictment for money laundering. What seemed impossible three years ago is reality today: Tom Delay, the most powerful Republican in Congress, quit. That's what happens when people who don't know how to play politics speak up and do the right thing.
Bell doesn't run the best campaign either. He attacked Strayhorn for months, marginalizing her as best he could and convincing many Democrats not to hedge their bets towards Mrs. Four-Way Street. As such, he's made it possible for big donors to swing back his way in time for television buys. He chose Glen Maxey -- a man many in Democratic circles still are not comfortable with -- to be his field director, and as a result will have the newest, best technology possible working for him this campaign. And Bell has appeared across the state with statewide candidates in a year when many experts have written off the statewide Democratic field.
Thank goodness he doesn't run the best campaign. If he did, he'd have flashy slogans, millions of dollars, and we'd be looking at Perry-Sanchez II this election season.
Most importantly -- and in all seriousness, now -- I'm voting for Chris Bell because he takes a strong, progressive stance on important issues. He's willing to talk about eliminating the highstakes nature of standardized testing and solving our state's dropout crisis, instead of pushing for the failed ideas of vouchers or legalized gambling.
He is the single biggest fighter for stem cell research in the state. He's got the guts to offer solutions to lower teen pregnancy rates at a time when Texas has the second highest teen pregnancy rate in the country. He's 100% pro-choice -- and he manages to be all those things in the most conservative state in Texas.
Bell has the single greatest energy platform any Democratic Gubernatorial candidate will ever have. He wants to fight for insurance reform, to stop insurance companies from overcharging Texas consumers by billions of dollars a year. He has the most comprehensive ethics reform plan of any candidate on the ballot.
We need a bad politician right now, because we're fed-up with politicians. We need someone who runs a bad campaign, because all the "good" campaigns in the past have only lost us elections. We need someone who has ambition for Texas, who has a vision for how great we can be, and who understands that the chance we have to make a difference this year is too important to leave to a nickname, a joke, and a failure.
I'm voting for Chris Bell this November. How about you?