Value Judgment: Look! My Toe! I Shall Shoot It!

Value Judgment is a daily weblog written by two independent voters on the eastern seaboard of the United States. VJ will focus on the 2004 U.S. Presidential campaigns, including strategy, tactics, and substance. The authors supported Howard Dean in the Democratic primary. Accordingly, his activities will be a prominent topic on this site.

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April 22, 2005

Look! My Toe! I Shall Shoot It!

Democrats. Pfft.

Richard Morrison ran against Delay last cycle, supported by DFA, Howard Dean, and the "netroots." He managed to rough Delay up quite a bit and conjecture is that Delay having to pay attention in his own district meant that he didn't have as much time or money to help out Republicans in other districts.

I got a letter from Morrison a couple of weeks ago saying that he's going to run again. But, it turns out that in their infinite unwisdom the DCCC is thinking about supporting a primary candidate (a carpetbagger, no less) against him.

Figures. Democrats, always finding ways to shoot themselves in the foot.

Morrison posted about this at dKos. Atrios observes:

I lack perfect information on these things, but my perception is that Morrison would be opposed not because of his lack of skills as a candidate, but because of his lack of deference to the DCCC.

(I'm blogging elsewhere about the general political insanity, but will pop back here now and then for campaign stuff like this, I think... )

Posted by J at April 22, 2005 07:25 AM

Comments

http://richardmorrison.blogspot.com

You are extremely mis-informed on the situation here. The view from inside the district is very different.

Richard performed under 40% in every place HIS campaign targeted with money and workers. His 41% showing against DeLay was the dual result of favorable demographic shifts in the district and a re-energized Democratic Party apparatus in the northern half of his district which he was in constant conflict with. His campaign was a disorganized parade of faux-pas from start to finish. In other words, it is conceivable that DeLay might not be in office right now if Richard hadn't ruined his chances with a litany of missed opportunities and fractured coalitions.

Now Richard's staff is hitting the blogs hard with the message that the DCCC is attempting to usurp his position with carpetbagers, even though the "carpetbaggers" in question have both held offices in which they served the people of the Fort Bend and Harris Counties. At the same time, Richard is meeting with the DCCC and attempting to make a secret deal to avoid a primary.

This nonsense has to stop. The Democrats of District 22 need a local candidate who can turn dollars into votes. The Democrats of District 22 need a proven Democratic winner, an experienced civil servant, and a true progressive.

We do not need a man who currently is in $44,000 of illegal debt and refuse to file proper FEC reports accounting for the money or even respond to repeated FEC notices. We do not need a man whose campaign manager was quoted as saying "Oh we hate Howard Dean, but we'll gladly take his money" in reference to DFA. We do not need an amateur.

http://richardmorrison.blogspot.com

Posted by: TXDistrict22Dem at April 23, 2005 03:55 PM

Well all I can say is, thank God for Howard Dean. That's the best thing that could have happened to the Republican party. When the DNC picked 'what's his name' to run for president and then turned right around and chose Dean to be the chairman of the DNC I shouted Halleluia. They shot themselves in the foot and then reloaded. We went from a 50-50 nation to a 51-49 nation. Now with Dean at the helm of the DNC can a 60-40 nation in our favor be far behind ? A quick message to Howard Dean, "Howard- hold what you got. Keep doing what you're doing...don't change a thing."

Posted by: jesse at May 8, 2005 03:04 PM