Based on my experience with past elections it seems that once you get past the first two pages of the ballot there are no more Democrats to be found, at least in Texas. They seem to contest only the top jobs. In fact, for some precinct and county positions in Texas you will often find a Republican running against a Libertarian with no Democrat at all. Truly pathetic that the Libertarian Party can field a candidate but the Democrats can’t. And if it’s intentional policy then I agree that it is political suicide in the long term.

Is Texas really so stupid that they can’t find an intelligent person to compete in the great democracy as opposed to this all Retardican party field? ;- //

The issue has been a point of contention for many years now in Dem circles, nationwide. It *is* depressing and disheartening to open a newspaper and see dozens of Republicans running unopposed in “small” offices across so many states (it’s not just Texas)?

This is a failure of the Democratic party at the national and state levels. But especially the national. The party stopped supporting the lower tiers of candidates well before I got involved with Dem politics at the local level, and that was in the late 70s. Anyway, it’s been a longtime problem, and one Howard Dean resolved to fix when he became head of the DNC. He’s said that he wants the Dem party to contest every race, every time.

This is a smart policy.

1) Not challenging any race frees up campaign money for the other team’s party. This is why the Republicans have done so well at the national and state levels. They’re not having to send all their $ downstream for the dogcatcher elections. That means they can divert money to troubled campaigns elsewhere, or pour more money into higher level races. Yeah, it costs you money to run some “piddly” office’s campaign, but not making the other party spend money deeper into the ballot is just plain stupid, and political suicide. You have to starve the beast. And the beast for the Republican campaign strategy is money, money and more money.

2) Getting people elected at the local level gives a party’s candidates experience for the next step up the political ladder. It’s all fine and good to wake up one morning and decide to run for state rep, but the reality is that you will be at a serious disadvantage as a campaigner against a more experienced pol. The voters will also be warier (justifiably) about your inexperience. It’s just an ugly fact of life that someone who has experience in even a small office will have more trust from voters about being effective in office–and never mind how experience as a campaigner will enable him to know better how to exploit an opponent’s weakness. Again, not grooming candidates for higher office from the ground up is just plain stupid, and political suicide.

My advice to anyone who can’t understand why the Dem party is so F*@#ing annoying and seems to shoot itself in the foot so often is to get involved with your local party. First, you’ll understand why it’s so messed up (the blue-haired ladies will be the first clue). And second, you can’t do anything to change it if you don’t get behind the curtain. Only from the inside can you can do something to change it. It ain’t easy. I’ve been at this game a long time, in different states, and I swear the experience proves I’m a masochist. Or an eternal optimist. But you can’t do anything sitting on the sidelines, belly-aching. You just never know when you’ll make a difference.

http://enr.sos.state.tx.us/enr/mar04_135_state.htm

RACE NAME: Member, State Board of Education, District 11
TOTAL VOTES, PERCENT
Patricia “Pat” Hardy – Incumbent 58,867 59.08%
Barney Maddox 40,761 40.91%
Precincts Reported: 572 of 572 Precincts 100.00%

The other creationist, Gonzalez, also lost by a wide margin:

http://enr.sos.state.tx.us/enr/mar04_136_state.htm

RACE NAME: Member, State Board of Education, District 2
TOTAL VOTES, PERCENT
Mary Helen Berlanga – Incumbent 93,844 58.42%
Lupe A. Gonzalez 66,786 41.57%

So, as I suspected all along, the creationists did not even come close. The Huckabee factor did NOT materialize in Texas as predicted. He got blown out by John McCain. So can we get a post “dedoomifying” Texas, please? We are NOT the hick, chewing-tobacco state some of you have envisioned.

http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/story/491641.html

“… But Kelly Shackelford, president of the Free Market Foundation, which describes itself as an organization that promotes Judeo-Christian values, said the Texas Freedom Network was needlessly pushing the panic button.
He said that putting another strong conservative on the board would help build a firewall against “liberals who use schools to push their political propaganda.” He said the board’s conservatives typically protect against the insertion of potentially erroneous material into textbooks. …”

WHAAAA_AAATTTT!!!??? Erroneous material like, say, creationism?

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at such hypocrisy.

“… District 11 covers about three-fourths of Tarrant County, plus all of Ellis, Johnson and Parker counties. There is no Democrat running for the position.
rdyer@star-telegram.com”

No Democrat running – Why not?

Is Texas really so stupid that they can’t find an intelligent person to compete in the great democracy as opposed to this all Retardican party field? ;-(

R.A. Dyer reports from the Star- Telegram’s Austin bureau. 512-476-4294

Sorry -make that : Christian X Burnham

“… Bad: Barny Maddox.

They don’t get any nuttier than this. A urologist who thinks that Charles Darwin’s theories are ‘fairy tales’. Wants to keep abstinence-only education and is in favor of displaying the Ten commandments in state schools.”

A urologist!!!??

A qualified Urologist = a doctor – medically trained in the waterworks area …no?

& this nutter doesn’t believ in basic biology …

… How the heck did he qualify for his job?