Lone Star Blues

[white cloud]

THE 2012 presidential race in Texas might as well have been in Mexico, so little did the Democrats campaign for the state’s 38 electoral votes.

Yet during a fund-raising swing on a sweltering July day, President Obama let a political secret out of the bag for his rich donors. “You’re not considered one of the battleground states,” he said, “although that’s going to be changing soon.”

Democrats are champing at the bit to turn Texas blue. “People are now looking at Texas and saying: ‘That’s where we need to make our next investment. That’s where the next opportunity lies,’ ” one Democratic state senator told Politico. There’s even optimistic chatter of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s capturing the state in 2016 if she runs for president.

But it’s going to take more than money or a Clinton. The only constant in politics may be change, but turning Texas blue — or even purple — is going to be a lot harder than most folks imagine. It will require hard work, political infrastructure and a vision of Hispanic voters that goes beyond immigration reform.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/opinion/getting-texas-to-go-democratic.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130220&_r=0

[hobbit709]

1. That's been my major beef with the national party for years.

They want our money but won't do a damn thing to help us.

[Paladin]

2. Talk Is Cheap.

Let's see some actual follow-through from the national party re Texas before we get our hopes up.

[DhhD]

3. That chatter should start with how public education being dismantled in Texas. Many will be unhappy

when 40 students are in a classroom with 30 desks due to unnecessary teacher losses. How about the loss of Friday night football?

There are many other losses that Texans are seeing and hearing about like the loss of medical and health care, state parks and museums, public roads to toll roads, voting suppression, and on and on. These losses and negative changes need to become campaign issues as they effect us all, no matter the ethnicity. Whether you are a Texan or are becoming one, we have interest and needs in common. These common threads need to be shared.

Edited to add a word.