the other march madness

It’s finally Tuesday March 4. Who knew that anyone would be paying attention to Texas for the Democratic Primary? The great thing is that now the rest of the country is reminded that there is a Democratic party in Texas and it has the opportunity to shape the national election. It’s particularly refreshing to hear about other states other than the standard caucus and primary states (Iowa, New Hampshire, S. Carolina etc…).

Its not that being a Democrat in Texas was ever irrelevant, it’s just that the race is so close now that people are actually paying attention to us. Texas usually gets written off as a completely conservative state minus maybe Austin, but this isn’t completely true. People easily forget the powerful Democratic leaders that have come out of Texas such as President Johnson, Barbara Jordan and many others. We even had Ann Richards as our Governor before George W. Bush was put into power over a decade ago. How quickly we forget.

As we watch the results tonight, it will be interesting to see how the candidates performed in terms of gender, age and other issues. A lot can change between now and November, but I would assume the platform will be built around who can work with those on the other side of the aisle and who can help rebuild this country (both domestically and in our relations with the rest of the world). There is growing urgency that we must change the way our country is run, and electing someone who can bring cooperation within both parties is critical for us to move forward.

Hopefully the influence Texas has on this Presidential election will be a positive one for the country and world, unlike last time around. But hey, he’s not even from Texas, so you can’t blame us too much.