I just got back from a dual county fish fry between Denton and Collin county Democratic parties, and no I didn’t have the fish, I despise seafood.
Anyways, the speakers for the evening were Mayor Bill White, Former Comptroller John Sharp, Ambassador Schieffer, and candidate for TX-26 Neil Durrance. Before I go on, let me say I had already decided I was backing White for Senate, but I will try and be fair in my analysis (even if it sounds one sided, it’s how I saw it).
In Speaker order:
John Sharp for US Senate – Came across folksy and of the East Texas variety. Dry stump speech. Still, he’s starting charismatically at the level that Chris Bell finished in 2006, which is good enough to pass as a candidate. Got much better in the Q&A when he somehow started talking about the economy on a question that was about Iraqi withdrawal.
Bill White for US Senate – Best speaker of the night and it showed afterwards with the crowds that gathered around him afterwards. Very charismatic and as a candidate sounded like he was in a whole different world than the rest of tonight’s speakers and those from 2006 and 2008 (If Chris Bell at the end of the 2006 gov race was a jump from Bell at the beginning, and Noriega was a jump from that, White is a jump 3 times in candidate quality on the stump). White’s speech, unlike what I heard from the other candidates and what I heard from previous statewide candidates focused much more on policy and results rather than “we are right and we’re democrats, yadda yadda yadda, let’s go win!” But that’s what you get when you have a high level office holder running for a higher office. He also mentioned that his Q2 financial report should show he has more total donors this quarter than that of all the announced republicans combined. Additionally, White opened his speech with what I assume was a dig at Cornyn saying Texas needs a Senator who gets to work rather than working on helping their political party.
Neil Durrance for TX-26 – I’ve known Neil for a few years when he was county chairman for Denton county. Neil has said some odd things and is a bit odd himself, however, Neil The Candidate seems to be inclined to watch his tongue a bit better. Also, he is miles above the previous challengers for Burgess such as the old crazy guy (2008, Ken Leach), the crazy guy (2006, Tim Barnwell), and the professional clown whose highlight is that he got to hold his clown show for Christopher Reeve once (2004, Lico Reyes). Neil seems to be the first guy in this race who won’t embarrass Denton County Democrats since I started going to school up here. I think he can crack the 40% barrier in a CD-26 race which none of the previous candidates have done.
Tom Schieffer for Governor – Schieffer carries himself very well and I could see him as a governor. His speech focused a lot on education and how his time in Asia as Bush’s ambassador to Japan made him realize how far Texas was slipping in everything. While he is Bush’s friend, he is certainly not friends with Perry or Hutchison and seems eager to take them both on regarding economics. White and Sharp both spoke highly of Schieffer, so he seems to have the establishment support locked up, as a result my hopes of a Jim Turner candidacy seem to have died tonight. I also kinda doubt State Sen. Van Deputt or Travis County DA Ronnie Earle will jump in for Gov (although Lt. Gov and Attorney General are still available). Overall, very bland, but it looks like he’s it and seems fair enough to carry the banner. How the Senate special election ends up will result in how much attention Schieffer gets in his race.
Update: To summarize the themes of each candidate:
Sharp: Its the economy, and we’re going broke. Also, I’ll drop some code words that I may be the more socially liberal candidate.
White: I fixed Houston and rarely had a party line vote when I was Mayor. The future is education and energy investment.
Durrance: Reach out to independents and bring them into the process not because we’re Democrats, but because we are right.
Schieffer: I can manage businesses, The Texas Rangers, and the state of Texas where it starts with education. Also, being good for business goes beyond tax cuts.
Alright, that’s it. Let me know what ya’ll think and give me some questions if you can think of them. Hurry, my memory is going fast in my old age of 24!
Update2
I’m going to copy something said by my friend John McClelland in a comment on Burnt Orange Report. John was the Democratic nominee for Texas House District 64 (City of Denton) in 2008.
“I don’t want politicians who live in the past. When I listened to Scheiffer, and even John Sharp, it is like a frat boy talking about the good ol’ days that they want everyone else to relive. Unfortunately, we don’t live in the 70s and 80s anymore, and living in the past is what killed the Democratic Party in the first place.”
This kind of attitude/content came across in the Sharp and Schieffer speeches which may have helped present them as being a bit more boring compared to that of Mayor White’s. There is a very real stuck in the past mindset with a lot of the big names in Texas democratic politics. Heck, even Chris Bell couldn’t give a speech without mentioning how he filed an ethics complaint against Tom DeLay when he served in the House. I still think this is an important comment though addressing where Schieffer and Sharp are coming from compared to White.
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Thanks for the color!
I really enjoyed your post — thanks for keeping us informed!
sadly confirmed that Bill White is still a rather dull stump speaker.
God I wish I could find the blog write-up where I read this, but I can’t find it now. It summarized a series of verbal gaffes by White over time, and frankly they sounded bad and hard to explain away.
I know one of them involved his cursing at FEMA workers, which is the only incident I could find stuff about.
But if my Google search can’t turn it up very easily, perhaps it won’t stick.
If opposition research by Sharp and, if applicable, the Texas and national GOP or the Republican nominee turns up the stuff, then it can put White on defense.
Which is why I went with Sharp.
Now, I know Sharp is a blast from the past and has “the smell of defeat” from his last statewide effort quite a few years ago, but at least he did at one time get elected to something statewide, and the Texas Democratic Party hasn’t been able to say that since.
As a speaker im going to have to say the exact opposite of what the article says, Bill White is anything but a charismatic politician and speaker. All his speeches are the same, slow and dull. I dont really have a particular favorate in this race, but I know that bill has always seemed to put his own personal interests ahead of his peoples. He also has noname recognition outside of Houston, which is going to make it incredibly hard for him to win.