Richard Morrison gives kudos to Dean at Kos. He was ignored by party.

[madfloridian]

This diary goes exactly to what I have been saying about Pennachio and PA. It is changing. Thanks, Richard, we donated to you from Florida last year, and we will do so now as well.

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2005/3/10/191235/483/0/post#here

Here are the excuses he got from the party:
SNIP..."When I first announced that I was running against Tom DeLay and started calling establishment Democrats for support they mostly said it wasn't worth trying. I heard dozens of variations of the following:

DeLay's the majority leader, his seat is safe.

I won't give you money because you can't guarantee a win.

Will you be putting in $1million of your own money?

DeLay is the "most powerful man in Washington, D.C."

DeLay won his closest race ever by 24 points.

I can't give. I'm afraid of DeLay. He has a reputation for punishing people who cross him.

Do they even still have Democrats in Fort Bend County? Those straight-ticket GOP voters will never cross over.

You have no name recognition.

You don't want to challenge "The Hammer." He's got $2 million in the bank, he'll destroy your name.

But there were some who believed..."

SNIP..."Then, the most extraordinary things started happening. I heard that other candidates were taking down their ads on Daily Kos because of a right-wing blogger smear campaign. So I placed an ad on the site. Then, I learned that the netroots believed. Suddenly we were raising money and people began to talk. From that point forward, I knew that this campaign would make a
difference.

Then something else happened, Governor Dean believed in me and I became an original member of the Dean Dozen. It was inspiring to see the Governor's supporters continue to work so hard for the Democratic party after his primary defeat because they believed in him. I hired numerous Dean campaign veterans because they all believed.

And we did make a difference...

We raised almost $700,000 and were able to run TV ads and do mail to the district...."

Much more at KOS

[ProudToBeLiberal]

1. woot. hey mad what name did you vote for?

to replace Dean Dozen. I don't know what to choose.

[madfloridian]

2. I have not voted....hate to give up Dean Dozen.

I really don't like any of the choices, and I can't think of one myself.

[johncoby2]

3. Richard was GREAT! It was the best time of my life.

I worked my ass off for Richard and enjoyed every bit of it. We did things that no one ever thought we could do:

We got DeLay to debate, for the FIRST time ever!

We got DeLay to spend money. LOTS of it.

We got him to run TV ads

We got him to run attack ads against Richard, the first time he has ever had to do this.

He had to attend parades sitting in a convertable mercedes benz, while Richard and us, walked the 3 miles on foot.

We embarrassed anyone who would hold functions in the area for him with massive protests.

Yep. Richard worked hard. Shook every hand. Walked every parade. He was a GREAT candidate to work for.

Yes, we did not win, but we sure as hell didn't lose!

[madfloridian]

4. I was so proud to read the blog and see the posts about what you did.

It was an amazing campaign.

[madfloridian]

5. You should love this picture, johncoby.

Richard, Dean, and VanOs

[FreedomAngel82]

25. Great picture!

Thank you for sharing. :) The memories.

[shance]

6. Am so glad to it. Is he going to run again?

n/t

[madfloridian]

7. He already is. That is what the post at Kos is about.

:hi:

[NoPasaran]

8. Here's Morrison's latest email

The Washington Post has the news. Tom DeLay went on a $100,000 trip to Korea paid for by a registered foreign agent.

If you've had enough of Tom DeLay, send a message and support a grassroots revolution that's working to end the reign of DeLay, Inc. Contribute to Richard Morrison here: http://morrisonfor22.com/contribute/contribute.php

Here's more from the Washington Post story:

A delegation of Republican House members including Majority Leader Tom DeLay accepted an expense-paid trip to South Korea in 2001 from a registered foreign agent despite House rules that bar the acceptance of travel expenses from foreign agents, according to government documents and travel reports filed by the House members.

Justice Department documents show that the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, a business-financed entity created with help from a lobbying firm headed by DeLay's former chief of staff, registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act on Aug. 22, 2001. DeLay; his wife, Christine; and two other Republican lawmakers departed on a trip financed by the group on Aug. 25 of that year.

The exchange group in late 2003 hosted three Democratic House members and another Republican on a similar trip. It spent at least 106,921 to finance the three-day trip in 2001 from Washington to Seoul by the Republicans, which DeLay (Tex.) and accompanying staff assistants described at the time as having an "educational" purpose.

The DeLay machine is very brittle -- it's held together with chains of money under high tension. Lobbyists give him money because he's powerful. He invests a certain percentage of that in campaign contributions to other GOPers. The influence he buys with that money is then mercilessly exploited to squeeze more money from the lobby.

But now corporations are getting into serious legal trouble for their involvement with DeLay, Inc. But DeLay is not resting. His criminal defense fund has already raised $1million.

But his campaign fund is down to only $68,000. He's already hired a top dirty tricks consultant for the 2006 race. We gotta step up our game to win. Every dollar invested in Morrison in 2004 caused DeLay to spend $4.62. That's a 400% return on investment. Contribute here to help Richard Morrison break up DeLay, Inc.: http://morrisonfor22.com/contribute/contribute.php

[madfloridian]

9. Morrison's a fighter...another great picture I found.

Dean has microphone, he is looking at Van Os and Morrison off to the right Kerry Edwards signs everywhere.

[NoPasaran]

12. Other folks in that picture

Which was taken last August during the 21st Century Democrats/DFA training workshop in Austin:
Just to the left and behind Morrison Lorenzo Sadun who ran a valiant write-in race for Congress in the perrymandered 10th C.D.; behind Morrison Greg Hamilton who was elected as Travis County's first African-American Sheriff; right of Greg Bruce Elphant, one of our Constables who played a big part in our voter registration drive that added something like 80,000 voters to the rolls in Austin; between Morrison and Van Os looking away from the camera Glen Maxey, former state legislator, political director of Democracy For Texas and mastermind of the Travis County Coordinated Campaign; behind Van Os Mark Strama who defeated an incumbant repuke slimeball legislator, taking back a seat we lost in 2002; and to the right Kelly White, who came within about 120 votes of recapturing the other seat lost that year. And of course a few of the hundreds and hundreds of grassroots volunteers who helped carry Travis County resoundingly for the Democratic Party.

[ChiciB1]

13. Travis County Went Dem???

Love It!!!! One of my 5 sisters lives in Round Rock and is SOLID Repuke. Only one in the family, but she lives in Tex-ASS so she's a sucker!

I grew up and went to school in Tex-ASS and graduated from KILLEEN HIGH SCHOOL!! Went back in 2003 for a Class Reunion and couldn't believe what a Dump the place has turned into.

But I always liked Austin and spent a LOT of time there. I actually thought about going to U.T. once! ONCE! My husband was born in Tampa, FL so we moved down here. Back when I lived in Texas, and I did so for about 15 years it was heavily Dem. I was in school when Kennedy got shot, but was visiting my sister in Austin at that time. Of course, no one will ever forget that day! She was Dem back then, but changed as time went on.

Anyway, don't get offended by the Tex-ASS spelling, it's just something I do because of you know who! Crawford is only about 40 miles from FT. Hood where I grew up! Lots of military there and I'm glad I don't live there now! Never had problems with the G.I.'s, I was an Army brat as were so many of us, but the place is a mess now.

Oh, last October Mollie Ivins was here and I got to talk to her and asked her about Killeen, her words... "it's the same ole dump it always was"! That was a thrill for me and I got my picture taken with her. What a Gal!!!!

[NoPasaran]

14. Solidly Dem in 2004

Thanks to the hard work of the people you see in that picture and others like them John Kerry got 71,000 more votes than Gore had gotten in 2000, we successfully defended all our seats and knocked off some repukes. In Austin we definitely have the power!

[ChiciB1]

15. Keep It Kicked...

I'm the political one in the family and my sister can't stand it!!!

Wish I could say the same for my county here in Florida. It's Sooooo Repuke. I could be wrong, but I don't think it's had a Democrat on the City Commission since I moved here in 1978! Lots' of bucks in this county and the pay scale is lower than St. Pete!

In fact, for many years this county was the richest county per capita until Naples & Ft. Myers surpassed it. I'm talking about the home of Cruella, Sarasota County!

But I keep plugging and I'm NOT going away.

Clinton ALMOST won here once, but not quite! But Clinton was never a Liberal like me.

[NoPasaran]

18. Scientists have detected traces of Blue in Round Rock

Williamson County Democrats didn't enjoy any successes in 2004, but they actually did blockwalking and opened a headquarters and started finding little pockets of Democrats all over the place. I am sure that if they keep their efforts up there will be some surprises in the future. Certainly now that the rethugs have total control of the state they are doing a breathtakingly bad job of running it.

[ChiciB1]

19. Well, Don't Give UP!!

I'm still "kicking" down here in my little hell-hole!!!

[NoPasaran]

26. Not a chance of that happening!

We just need to bottle what we did in Austin and ship it around the state... and the country. Hosting DemocracyFest here in June should help.

[ChiciB1]

10. Well, NOW... You Need To Kick His ASS!

What a little twit! I can't stand to even look at him. One can only HOPE that FINALLY he'll get BITCH SLAPPED by Someone and they put his twat in the CAN!

I hear that no very many representatives really like him, but since he had been so eeeeeffffective in his state they tolerated him!

Out, Out, Damn Spot!

[shance]

11. The foundation has already been laid.

Thanks to the Governor and Mr. Morrison.

[TexasLawyer]

22. I worked for him too.

And I did some activist things like donating numerous copies of Fahrenheit 9/11 to all the Ft. Bend County libraries.

Tom DeLay must go.

[madfloridian]

23. We do that...donate books to the library here. Good idea.

We donated The Republican Noise Machine, American Dynasty by Phillips, and a few others.

[FreedomAngel82]

24. Sounds like you guys did a lot

I'm glad for that. If I had the money and was in Texas I'd support anybody running against DeLay. Blah. Hopefully next term more people could come out and vote for him and he could win. :) It's one of my dreams to see Texas go blue (even if light blue).

[madfloridian]

16. Is Van Os running again?

I heard he was. I liked him, too.

[NoPasaran]

17. Word is he's running for Attorney General

Some people dismiss David as a loose cannon, but in 2004 he ran ahead of the national ticket around the state and carried more counties than Kerry/Edwards. He truly believes that Democrats can win back rural Texas, which has been neglected by both parties as the Democrats have retreated into the big cities and the Republicans have concentrated on the suburbs. You have not heard a fire-breathing populist until you've heard David Van Os.

[madfloridian]

20. I was reading something about him at the Iconoclast online.

There was a picture and an article, and he sounded very determined.

But then again...everyone who speaks out in our country today is considered a loose cannon.

[NoPasaran]

21. Well, he's outspoken in his views

And he takes no prisoners.