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Burnt Orange ReportIn the last couple of days there has been a boomlet of U.S. Senate discussion about Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez due to trial balloons being floated by former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes & the DSCC.
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I'm not surprised by the quick response in the political press and blogosphere; after all, it's less than a year away from the (expected) Texas primary and the only announced candidate Sean Hubbard, excluding the Draft Tommy Lee Jones movement. Other obvious potential candidates aren't available or interested, ranging from former Gubernatorial nominees Tony Sanchez, Chris Bell, & Bill White to former US Senate nominees Rick Noriega, Victor Morales, or Gene Kelly (if he's still alive). I half suspect that Barbara Radnofsky's name might get floated at some point but I haven't heard from her since her unsuccessful second statewide bid last fall. No big city mayors are in the pipeline other than Mayor Julian Castro in San Antonio who's running for re-election. Heck, it's been so bad that even the perennially rumored John Sharp no longer makes the media's obligatory candidate short list.
Texas Democrats recognize that our bench took a beating last November and are desperate for any hint of a candidate to run in a rare open US Senate seat. That desperation isn't new, it's just more obvious now that 2010 exposed the underlying structural failings of the Democratic Party as it exists in Texas. There is a much bigger discussion that needs to take place about the nuts and bolts re-building of the Democratic Party in Texas, one that I hope will be part of the now open race and debate for the next TDP Chair since Boyd Richie is not running for re-election. But this post isn't about that, at least not directly.
I believe the initial debate over the potential of Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez's candidacy has to go deeper than arguments over his involvement and handling of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. In fact, I'd argue that we are having the wrong debate entirely. Every cycle since at least 2000 Democrats have focused around "Winnability" in the major nominees we have put forward as our top of the ticket standard-bearers, and look where that has gotten us.
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Maybe it's time to for Texas Democrats to stop searching for nominees based upon this model of "winnability" and instead, search for a nominee based upon our Party's "values". http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/11148/the-texas-democratic-strategy-winnability-vs-values">Click Here To Read More