This is a second in a series of dairies on retaking LBJ’s Senate seat in ‘14.
Paul Sadler raised about 140,000
Ted Cruz 14,511,279+
Elizabeth Warren raised 42,506,349+
John Cornyn 2,671,655+ Cash on hand as of December 31, 2013
Candidates raise money to increase their name recognition and favorability. Usually, the candidate with the highest name recognition and favorability wins the race. Texas has few Democrats with statewide above single digits name recognition, those that do are dead!
PROBLEM: How can Democratic candidate for Senate quickly increase their name recognition and favorability to create a race that is seen nationwide as competitive against Minority Whip of the United States Senate? BTW: I in the early 80’s I ran a Senate race in the Northeast.
Which of the 14 candidates listed below do you want to send to the US Senate?
89% of Texas’s population lives in 10 metropolitan areas. Media time in Texas is expensive, very expensive.
I have a plan that should enable the Democratic candidate for the US Senate to raise in excess of $ 25,000,000. That candidate should be working today to win the General Election on November 4, 2014.
A Democrat has not won a statewide race in Texas in 20 years. That’s 100 straight losses. Reversing that trend will be very physically and emotionally demanding. Counting down from March 7, 2013 he or she has 607 days.
What will be the first question that the candidate using this strategy be asked?
Not who but “Where are you?” when "Dialing for Dollars."
This strategy enables the candidate to spend more time with voters and less "Dialing for Dollars"
That implies this candidate will have almost instant national as well as state name recognition within a few weeks of filing for the Senate seat in Austin.
Do you have a plan to create an almost “Instant campaign image?” I do.
I'm aware that the most frequently mentioned candidates are Rafael Anchia, Wendy Davis, Julian Castro, Trey Martinez Fischer, etc., but there are a few others who might be more competitive because they have never run for public office previously.
I’m guessing but holding public office could be a negative in ’14. Do you see two more years of a DC Work Stoppage? What will the mood be in Texas and the country towards incumbents in '14?
As I noted in a previous diary Phil Gramm and Dick Armey went from teaching college to Congress. It’s the direct path not the party.
Two women, I especially think have great potential are a vice-provost at a very large university and a nationally recognized environmental leader. While both are public people I’m not identifying either because they have not previously run for public office.
I have calculated these days based upon past elections and the Texas Election Code.
Last Day to File Date: 2013-Dec-09 (Monday)
Primary Election Day: 2014-Mar-04 (Tuesday)
Primary Runoff Day: 2014-Apr-08 (Tuesday)
General Election Day: 2014-Non-04 (Tuesday)
Days between March 9, 2013 and Filing Deadline: 277
Days between Filing Date and General Election: 330
Days between Primary Runoff & General Election: 210
Day between Primary and Primary Runoff: 35
Days between Filing Date and Primary: 85
Professional campaign managers create a campaign calendar based upon the above events and time spans. TIME IS VERY SHORT. How important is early voting in a Texas primary?
The point of this post is to begin identify a candidate today to retake LBJ’s seat in ’14.
If a Democrat is to break the 20 year Republican winning streak that candidate will need to be a very good teacher who is very comfortable using technology, BHO ran for the Senate after 3 terms as a little known part time state rep.
BTW: If this campaign is a well-executed we can change as many as 7 House seats from Red to Blue.
There are 475 paid-circulation newspapers in Texas including 76 dailies and 399 weeklies, semiweeklies, biweeklies, etc.
How should progresssives/liberals be laying the ground work now for the defeat of Cornyn and other Republicans?
Can a Texas Daily Kos group coordinate setting the stage for victory in '14 by using them starting today? Send me a message with your questions.