Social Media Caucus At The Democratic State Convention

by Michael Handley

Last week, at the 2012 Democratic State Convention in Houston, I attended the Social Media Caucus. This well attended panel discussion was chaired by Democratic activist and citizen editorialist, Rachel Farris (@meanrachel) who writes Mean Rachel, a popular progressive blog that covers perspective and satire on Texas and national politics.

Rachel kicked off the caucus by interviewing Texas State Senator Kirk Watson (@kirkpwatson) who explained how as a legislator and candidate he effectively uses Twitter and other social media to open and maintain discussions with his constituents.

Texas State Senator Kirk Watson and Rachel Farris discuss the Senator's #AskKW Twitter chat channel

Sen. Watson writes his own blog/e-newsletter the Watson Wire, and has a large following on both his political and personal Facebook pages.

His website – www.kirkwatson.com – is plugged into his Facebook and Twitter pages and he recently started experimenting with a comment function where, if people log in, they can leave their thoughts and questions, to which Senator Watson can respond.

Senator Watson understands that social media can be used to inform his constituents about the issues. But Sen. Watson is also learning that social media is even more powerful because it can be used as a two-way communication channel to have regular conversations with large numbers of voters at one time. Using Twitter, or other social media platforms, politicians like Senator Watson can have regular conversations with voters that are as effective as phone and door canvassing.

Unfortunately, candidates themselves do not have the time to call or visit many voters at home – one person at a time. And phone and door canvassing contact with individual voters is usually just a one-time conversation per election cycle. Recruiting enough volunteer or paid campaign workers to engage enough voters one by one to swing an election is also difficult – especially for first time novice candidates. Phone and door canvassing can only be done only one voter at a time, but using social media, politicians can converse with many people at a time, as Senator Watson discusses in the video.

Just as a candidate personally knocking on doors and making phone calls to talk to voters wins more votes than interns, volunteers or paid canvassers might win talking to people at those same homes, so a candidate personally engaging people in social media conversation will win more votes than novice volunteers tweeting. Additionally, the increasing prevalence of "cell phone- only" households is making traditional landline-based political canvassing activities obsolete.

When it comes to building relationships with voters, social media services like YouTube, iTunes Podcasts, Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter are communication channels that can be as effective as spending millions of dollars on traditional TV, Radio and Print media market buys. It is just as important to prepare a carefully thought out message communication plan for social media as it is for a multimillion dollar traditional TV, Radio and Print media market buy.

Tweeting is not just for candidates! Party leaders can just as effectively use Twitter, and other social media channels, to regularly engage in conversations with the base of Texas Democrats. Over time these conversations with grassroots Democrats can expand, motivate and empower Democrats to both support the party and vote on election day.

Next on the Social Media Caucus agenda after Senator Watson, Rachel moderated a social media panel discussion among professional and citizen journalists.

The panel (picture above from left) included Rachel Farris, Scott Braddock, (@scottbraddock) a well-known Texas radio journalist and commentator who also writes his Voice of Texas blog, Charles Kuffner (@kuff) who writes his Off the Kuff blog, Michael Li, (@mcpli) a Dallas lawyer who specializes in election law and who writes his Texas Redistricting blog, and Peter Salinas, Vice President of the Hidalgo County Young Democrats organization that uses Social Media for community outreach.

Message From TDP State Chair Gilberto Hinojosa

Fellow Texas Democrats:

I am so honored to have been chosen by you as your Chair of our Great Texas Democratic Party. The overwhelming support from our Party rank and file was humbling. Thank you so much!

I would like to thank Rachel Barrios Van Os and Fidel "Ace" Acevedo for their sacrifice in their race for Chair. I know that their love of our Democratic Party is what drove them in this back breaking pace of a statewide campaign. To both of you, congratulations for your commitment to our Party and know that we welcome your continued leadership and work in our Party.

The real work now begins. Much remains to be done. But knowing that, not only is our cause just and right, it is a cause that comes with Hope. As I have stressed to you throughout this campaign for a year and a half, there are more of "Us" than "Them". Our challenge is to assemble strategies that will ensure that Our Base is engaged, energized and involved in the electoral process. This is doable my friends - but not without a lot of hard work and smart thinking. But, if there is one thing that I am sure of it is that we are smarter than they are and the Republican assault on our families in Texas drives us to want to work harder than ever. Texas families are depending on us to succeed. We cannot fail - WE MUST NOT FAIL!!!

So let's get to work. Let's turn this thing around. And, let's bring the visionary, strong and compassionate leadership to our Great State that our families deserve.

And let's have some fun doing it, my friends!

Gilberto Hinojosa
Chair of the Texas Democratic Party

2012 TDP Platform Shows Progressive Direction

Last weekend 2012 Democratic State Convention delegates passed one of the most progressive party platforms ever contemplated by Texas Democrats. Delegates also overwhelmingly elected Judge Gilberto Hinojosa Texas Democratic Party Chair for the next two years.

Hinojosa told convention delegates that the party and the party's candidates must begin to offer the voters of Texas a clear choice to the extreme conservative policies of the Republican Party - and that includes clearly communicating the progressive values of the Democratic Party. At the convention, he shouted from the podium,

“This is a war, folks. This is a war that the Republicans have waged on our families in Texas and all across America, We are a compassionate people. We don’t believe in pulling up the ladder after we reach the top.”

Hinojosa said that while Republicans call Democrats un-American it is in truth Republicans who carried out un-American policies by cutting funding for public education, women's health care, denying citizens their right to vote and opposing civil rights protections for all sexual orientations.

Last November this Blog published an article, "The Texas Democratic Party Needs A New Direction." The article said in part,

"... Perhaps the idea that the TDP's voter base, outside of Austin, is pervasively very conservative - an idea still active espoused by long time Democratic political strategists - is no longer correct. Perhaps the idea that the party and it's candidates must continue to subscribe to conservative policy strategies, shunning all progressive/liberal policy positions, is a strategy that no longer works - even in Texas.

It is, perhaps, time for party leaders to seriously consider whether the party finds itself struggling to attract voters, raise money and attract new candidates, not because it's not conservative enough, but because the Democratic Party offers Texas voters no real and contrasting choice to the extreme conservative Republican brand of politics. ..."

The election of Judge Hinojosa, the party's first Hispanic chair, and TDP's 2012 platform demonstrates that "perhaps" our November 2011 article was prescient. The progressive 2012 platform advocates for controversial issues including calling for the end of the death penalty, decriminalization of marijuana, the legalization of same sex marriage, and more. Read the platform and decide for yourself - below the "more" jump:

Half Of Over-65s Regularly Use The Internet

As of April 2012, 53% of American adults age 65 and older use the internet or email, according to a Pew Research report.

Though these adults are still less likely than all other age groups to use the internet, the latest data represent the first time that half of seniors are going online. For most online seniors, internet use is a daily fixture in their lives.

Among internet users age 65 and older, 70% use the internet on a typical day. After several years of very little growth among this group, these gains are significant.

State Senator Wendy Davis And Voter Photo ID

by Michael Handley and Linda Magid

Texas State Senator Wendy Davis attended the Texas Democratic Party Kick-Off Reception last Thursday night to celebrate the beginning of the State Democratic Convention for 2012.

Senator Davis had only earlier been deposed for the Texas Voter Photo I.D. case currently before the federal Washington DC Circuit Court.

When we spoke with Senator Davis at the reception she shared that lawyers for the Photo I.D. law tried to imply that because citizens of Texas want the law that it should be allowed.

It will come as no surprise that Davis refused to agree to that logic, stating that legislators are responsible to ensure that no laws are discriminatory and that the Texas Voter I.D. law that passed last year was clearly discriminatory.

Legislation passed by the Republican controlled Texas Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Perry in 2011 (SB 14) requires that voters present one of a select and limited group of government issued photo I.D., which over 30% of some voting groups do not hold, before casting a ballot.

Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department or a federal court is required to pre-clear laws affecting voters before they go into effect in jurisdictions with a history of voting discrimination -- and that includes Texas. The Texas Secretary of State’s (TxSOS) office made the preclearance filing for SB 14 to the U.S. Department Justice (USDOJ) on July 25, 2011. The state’s voter I.D. law is on hold awaiting review from a D.C. Circuit Court.

Judge Gilberto Hinojosa Elected Texas Democratic Party Chair

by Michael Handley

On the final day of the 2012 Democratic State Convention in Houston delegates overwhelmingly elected Judge Gilberto Hinojosa Texas Democratic Party Chair for the next two years.

Hinojosa, 59, is a former judge, county party leader and member of the Democratic National Committee. He is replacing outgoing chairman Boyd Richie, who announced in April 2011 that he would not seek another term after serving as party chair for six years.

Judge Hinojosa, who is the first Hispanic chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, intends to bring the kind of change to the TDP that will begin to offer the voters of Texas in all 254 counties a clear choice to the extreme conservative policies of the Republican Party - and that includes clearly communicating the progressive values of the Democratic Party. At the convention, he shouted from the stage,

“This is a war, folks. This is a war that the Republicans have waged on our families in Texas and all across America, We are a compassionate people. We don’t believe in pulling up the ladder after we reach the top.”

Hinojosa said that while Republicans call Democrats un-American it is in truth Republicans who carried out un-American policies by cutting funding for public education, women's health care, denying citizens their right to vote and opposing civil rights protections for all sexual orientations.

Hinojosa said Democrats need to begin believing they can win elections and stop allowing Republicans to define them us unpatriotic. "We as a party need to realize that there are more of us than there are of them - We have 70 percent of the people of Texas being beaten by 30 percent of the (Republican) people of Texas,” Hinojosa told convention delegates. "We believe that everyone in this great state deserves an equal chance ... and we can only do that if we win elections."

Judge Hinojosa, who is a lifelong Democrat, is passionate about rebuilding the Texas Democratic Party. When he announced his candidacy for party chair in June 2011 he said,

"I have decided to take on this campaign for Texas Democratic Party Chair because I believe that the people of the State of Texas deserve, and desperately need, to have a Democratic Party that will ensure that we elect fair minded, socially conscious, critical thinking and visionary Democrats to run this State, instead of the Republicans that are running it into the ditch. Texans cannot afford any less. TOO much is at stake. TOO much has been lost and we must turn things around before it's TOO late."

---

Judge Hinojosa interview with Texas Trib reporter Ross Ramsey.

Judge Hinojosa grew up in the Rio Grande Valley, attended what is now the University of Texas-Pan American, and obtained his law degree at Georgetown University.

He first worked as a lawyer for the Washington, D.C.-based Migrant Legal Action Program and then served as a Brownsville school trustee, a state district judge, a justice on the state's 13th Court of Appeals, on the Texas Board of Criminal Justice and Cameron County Judge. Judge Hinojosa currently practices law in Brownsville.

(Click here to read more about Judge Hinojosa.)

Michael Handley is DBN Managing Editor and was a delegate to TDP State Convention. Michael also served on the TDP Convention Party Officer Nominations Committee that approved Judge Hinojosa's nomination, along with other party officers.

Heard In The Ladies Room At The Texas Democratic Convention - Day 1

by Barb Walters

Close to the end of day 1 at the Democratic Convention in Houston. Spent most of the day in the Ladies Room and met men and women from all over the state.

Michelle Petty is running for the Texas Supreme Court. All 9 on the court are Republicans and have been for years. Michelle shared examples of the kind of decisions they need to make.

The court has ruled that rape cases involving health care providers have to go under the medical malpractices act which limits their rights of recovery and makes it more difficult. Historically these have been personal injury cases. Vote Michelle.

Spent time getting to know James White who is running for Senate District 8 Committeeman. Personally I am endorsing James because he will work collaboratively with the SD8 Committeewoman and will work across the county line between Dallas and Collin. He spent time in the Ladies Room.

I met some union women from Wise County and Harris County and will learn more about what their political issues are during the "Labor of Love" session tomorrow.

My session on how to activate Democrats was well-received. Several people offered their ideas of what they do in their counties to activate Democrats -- like doing outreach to recruit precinct chairs, writing letters to the editor, and offering programs at meetings on important issues like same sex marriage. One button says: Democrats: Say I Do. Stonewall Democrats were distributing these at their reception asking us to put same sex marriage in the Democratic Party Platform.

I can say the Ladies Room was :"bubbly" with sparkling wine and sparkling conversation.

Barb Walters, CPLP
Texas Democratic Women of Collin County President
president@tdwcc.org

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The Ladies' Room Hospitality Suite Schedule - Hilton Hotel Room 21029 west

Thursday, June 7th

• 3 - 4:30 PM - Welcome Reception, Meet the RW leadership and members (Sponsored by ROADWomen)
• 5 - 7 PM - Top 10 Ways to Activate Democrats! Workshop (Sponsored by the Democratic Women Collin County)
• 8 - 10 PM - Stop by! Visit! Network! (Sponsored by Zeph Capo, Candidate for DND Committee)

Friday, June 8th

• 8:30 - 10 AM - Breakfast and Organizational Meeting of The Progressive Democratic Women's Network (Sponsored by Texas Progressive Women)
• 10:15 - 11 AM - Reception for Union Women. Host Andie Gardner (Sponsored by I.L.A. Local 1351 Port of Houston)
• 11 - 1:30 PM - THE HIGH TEA PARTY! Honoring Non, Sissy Farenthold (Sponsored by Capital Area Democratic Women and National Women's Political Caucus-Texas)
• 2 - 4 PM - Down Time with lemonde, cookies & relaxation (Visit and Network) or possibly function featuring Ann Johnson DS 17
• 5 - 7 PM - Honoring Women's Health Champions. Special guest Melanie Linton, CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. (Sponsored by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast)
• 7:30 - 10 PM - Champaign & Martini Reception "Friends of Education" with the smooth sounds of Carli Mosier & Taylormade (Sponsored by Zeph Capo, Candidate for DNC Committeeman, Hosted by Erica Graham, Candidate-Judge Harris County Civil Court at Law 1 and Linda Bridges, President of Texas AFT, Gayle Fallon, HFT, and Sherrie Matula, TSTA

Saturday, June 8th

• 10:30 - 12 noon - "Flush Rush" and "Send Perry Packing" Farewell Event. Come sign petitions against Rush and Perry (Sponsored by I.L.A. Local 1351 Port of Houston and Vicinity

Obama's New Ad And Romney's Dash For The Cash In Texas

A week after Texas GOP primary voters gave him the delegates needed for him to secure the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney comes to Texas looking for campaign cash. Romney is scheduled to deliver his core argument, "that he knows how to create jobs and as president he would revive the struggling economy," Tuesday afternoon at a Fort Worth office supply company. He then heads to a fundraiser at the old Belo Mansion in downtown Dallas on Tuesday night, before heading to fundraisers in San Antonio and Houston on Wednesday.

Texans have contributed more than $5.8 million to his 2012 campaign, and that doesn't include the millions of dollars in cash wealthy Republican have contributed to Romney-booster super PACs, including Restore Our Future and American Crossroads. The gate fee for Romney's Dallas fundraiser starts at $2,500 per person, and Donors who contribute $50,000, or motivate $200,000 from others, get a private reception with Romney.

We've Heard it All Before
Obama for America Television Ad

Meanwhile, President Obama's OFA campaign has placed a new television spot directly attacking Mitt Romney's core argument: that he knows how to create jobs and as president he would revive the struggling economy.

OFA's ad, which is running in nine battleground states, begins with a clip from Romney's campaign to become governor of Massachusetts and him saying that he knows how to create jobs. It then highlights that the state dropped to 47th for job creation under his tenure.

"One of the worst economic records in the country," a narrator says as headlines flash on the screen. The ad attacks Romney for losing twice the national average of manufacturing jobs and says he outsourced call center jobs to India.

The message: "Mitt Romney ran for governor of Massachusetts promising more jobs, decreased debt, and smaller government. By the time Romney left office, state debt had increased, the size of government had grown, and Massachusetts had fallen behind almost every other state in job creation. Romney economics didn't work then, and it won't work now."

The ad will run in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Voter Registration Cancellations

Houston Chronicle

More than 300,000 valid voters were notified they could be removed from Texas rolls from November 2008 to November 2010 - often because they were mistaken for someone else or failed to receive or respond to generic form letters, according to Houston Chronicle interviews and analysis of voter registration data.

Statewide, more than 1.5 million voters could be on the path to cancellation if they fail to vote or to update their records for two consecutive federal elections: One out of every 10 Texas voters' registration is currently suspended. Among voters under 30, the figure is about one in five.

Texas voter registration rates are among the lowest in the nation, but Texas pays nearly twice as much to cancel voters - 40 cents per cancellation - as it does to register new ones at 25 cents.

State and federal laws require the nation's voter rolls be regularly reviewed and cleaned to remove duplicates and eliminate voters who moved away or died. But across Texas, such "removals" rely on outdated computer programs, faulty procedures and voter responses to generic form letters, often resulting in the wrong people being sent cancellation notices, including new homeowners, college students, Texans who work abroad and folks with common names, a Chronicle review of cancellations shows.

The Secretary of State's office says it automatically cancels voters only when there is a "strong match" between a new registration and an older existing voter - such as full name, Social Security number and/or date of birth.

However, each year thousands of voters receive requests to verify voter information or be cancelled because they share the same name as a voter who died, got convicted of a crime or claimed to be a non-citizen to avoid jury duty.

In Harris County alone, more than 100,000 voters share their name with at least one other voter. The phenomenon is even more common among Hispanics.

Voters receive form letters generated by workers in county election offices that "therefore may be more subject to error," said Rich Parsons, a spokesman for the Secretary of State in emailed responses to the newspaper. Voters who fail to respond to form letters - or never receive them - get dropped.

Statewide, 21 percent of the people who received purge letters later proved they were valid voters, compared with 16 percent in Harris County, according to a Chronicle analysis of the latest U.S. Election Assistance Commission data. Other counties had higher percentages: 37 percent of voters who received removal letters in Galveston County were valid voters, 40 percent in Bexar County and 70 percent in Collin County.

Read the full story @ Houston Chronicle.

Texas State Democratic Convention And The SDEC

by Linda Magid

Delegates to the 2012 Democratic State Convention will assemble in Houston from Thursday, June 7 through Saturday June 9. One of the first items of state convention business that delegates will consider is who they will elect to serve on the State Democratic Executive Committee until the 2014 Democratic State Convention convenes.

But what is the State Democratic Executive Committee and what does it do, exactly?

TDP Chair Candidate Gilberto Hinojosa

By Michael Handley, DBN Managing Editor

Texas Democrats, who will attend the State Democratic Convention in Houston June 7-9, have an opportunity to change the direction of the party. Party chairman Boyd Richie is stepping down, and a new party chairman must be elected at the state convention on June 9th. Judge Gilberto Hinojosa is running to be the next chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, to bring that much needed change.

Last November this Blog published an article, "The Texas Democratic Party Needs A New Direction:"

Texas’s House Delegation Likely Won’t Reflect Hispanic Boom

TPM

After intense infighting and multiple delays, Tuesday’s Texas primaries proceeded under a compromise map intended to hand two of the state’s four new House districts to Latinos. It now appears as if neither of the new Hispanic-majority districts will send one of their own to Washington.

Texas’s population ballooned over the last decade due to the state’s rapidly growing Hispanic population. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of Hispanics grew by 2.8 million in the state; the group now comprises almost 40 percent of the population. But they make up less than one-fifth of its congressional delegation — and after November, that contingent could shrink, even after advocates fought tooth and nail to open the doors for Latino candidates with the state’s redistricting map.

Collin County Primary Results

By the end of primary election day the 435,397 registered voters in Collin County had cast 54,901 ballots in the Democratic and Republican primaries for a 12.6% voter turnout.

5,676 of those ballots were cast in the Democratic Primary and 49,225 Republican Primary ballots were cast. 22,644 Republican ballots and 2,645 Democratic ballots were counted for Election Day - including vote by mail ballots. Between both parties a total of 1,640 vote by mail ballots were cast with the majority being cast for the Republican primary.

The primary took place under interim district maps ordered by a San Antonio federal district court earlier this year while the maps passed by the 2011 Texas legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Perry continue under "preclearance" review by a Washington, D.C. District Court.

Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Texas is one of eight states with a history of discrimination that submit congressional redistricting proposals to either the Justice Department or a D.C. court preclearance before they can take effect.

Texas Republicans are threatening redraw the redistricting maps during the 2013 Texas legislative session. GOP Primary voters approved their party's Primary Ballot Proposition #5 that reads, "Redistricting - The Texas Legislature should redraw the court-imposed lines for Congress and State legislative districts in its upcoming session in order to remedy inequities.

As did the rest of Texas, Collin County voters split their votes for the U.S. Senate candidates listed on the Democratic and Republican ballots.

Remember Why We Honor This Day

Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed annually in the United States on the last Monday of May.

It is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union soldiers who died in the Civil War.

By the 20th century Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died in all wars.

Many people visit cemeteries and memorials, particularly to honor those who have died in military service.

Many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries.

We should also remember "The Other Forgotten Soldier," military service dogs.

Find out about The Other Forgotten Soldier at:

• Save A Vet Org
• Military Working Dog Foundation

New Orleans' Times-Picayune Newspaper Going Digital

New Orleans learned last week that one of its bedrock institutions will undergo a major makeover: The Times-Picayune, the city's daily newspaper with a 175-year history, announced it will cut back its newsprint version to three days a week and expand its digital news publications. This change, which was taken because of declining print revenues in a digital age, is scheduled to take effect sometime this fall. When it happens, New Orleans will be the biggest city in the country without a daily newspaper.

A new company - the NOLA Media Group, which will include The Times-Picayune and its affiliated web site NOLA.com - will reshape how the New Orleans area's dominant news organization delivers local news, sports and entertainment coverage in an increasingly digital age. NOLA Media Group will significantly increase its online news reporting 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while offering enhanced printed newspapers on a schedule of three days a week. The newspaper will be home-delivered and sold in stores on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays only.

The decision to form a new company signals a change in the way news is delivered to an increasingly wired New Orleans area audience. As printed newspaper circulation declines, online readership is surging. The internet is slowly closing in on television as America's main source of national and international news. The rapid adoption of cell phones and, especially, the spread of internet-connected smartphones and iPad-like devices are changing the way people communicate with others, find information and read the news.

2012 Primary Early Voting Results

With only the Memorial Day weekend to get through until Primary Election Day, the University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll and Burnt Orange Report poll released earlier this week suggests that both the Texas Democratic and Republican Parties may need July 31 runoff elections to select the names that will appear on the November ballot for retiring Kay Bailey Hutchinson's U.S. Senate seat. If a runoff election is scheduled, early voting will run from Monday, July 23 through Friday, July 27.

The pace of voter traffic at early polling places quickened through the second week of early voting across Collin County with the heaviest traffic coming on the last day, Friday.

Several Collin County polling places were quite busy on Friday with heavy Republican voter traffic. Democratic Party voter turnout was also somewhat heavier on Friday, but GOP voters still topped Democratic Party voters by nearly a 10 to 1 ratio.

On Thursday, 3,039 people voted early in the Republican Primary and an additional 5,993 people voted the Republican ballot on Friday. For the Democratic Party's primary 337 people voted early on Thursday and an additional 651 people voted the Democratic ballot on Friday.

In Collin County, the tally for GOP in-person voting through the close of early voting on Friday May 25, stood at 25,257 voters checked in to vote. Collin County had the fifth highest early Republican turnout among all 254 Texas Counties.

The tally for Democratic Party in-person voting at the close of early voting stood at 2,963 voters checked to vote. Collin County ranked thirteenth in early Democratic Party turnout among all 254 Texas Counties. (see table below the fold at bottom.)

Volunteer Today To Help Your Fellow Texans Vote Next Tuesday!

by Michael Handley

Many Americans have come to reject politics, because they are tired of "blame the other guy" us against them politics.

But Collin County Democrats have an opportunity to find common cause and join with their fellow Democrats in a very positive and personal way as we approach primary election day. You can help your fellow Democrats exercise their right to vote.

The Democratic Party of Collin County needs your help on Election Day, Tuesday, May 29. If you are registered to vote in Collin County you can serve as an Election Judge, Alternate Judge, or Election Clerk on Election Day at polling locations across the county. If you can, please take this opportunity to serve your community and support your neighbors and fellow Democrats by helping them exercise their right to vote.

Volunteer today to be an Election Judge, Alt Judge or Clerk by calling or emailing the Primary Elections Administrator for the Democratic Party of Collin County at phone number (972) 578-1483 or email address elections@collindems.us.

If you reside in another Texas County, contact the Democratic Party office for your county today and volunteer to serve your community on Election Day!

2012 Primary Early Voting In Collin Co.

Texas Democratic Party and Republican Party Primary Election Early Voting started Monday for county and statewide office contests. Early voting will continue through Friday, May 25. Voters can finally pick their party's nominees after a four-month delay caused by extended court battles over redistricting, which, by the way, aren't finally settled yet.

The four-month primary election delay has resulted in voter apathy, which creates a challenge for candidates to get out the vote. Voter apathy can spell trouble for some Republican incumbent candidates facing opposition from Tea Party conservative activists, and create an opportunity for very well organized newcomers.

Obama's Campaign To Launch Holy Grail Of Digital Campaigning

Barack Obama's re-election campaign for the White House is poised to launch its secret weapon: an online tool that the campaign hopes will vastly increase its ability to mobilize volunteers and potential voters across the US.

The new tool, called Dashboard, is being seen as the possible Holy Grail of digital political organizing, one that has eluded campaign chiefs for years. It is already being road-tested in several of the crucial swing states that Obama must hold onto if he is to remain in office.

The technology has been incorporated into the campaign's website, myBarackObama.com, and is expected to be made available to thousands of staff and volunteers across the country within the next 10 days. Its URL can be found through search, though it remains inaccessible to most Obama supporters until the launch.

For the past eight years, online experts working within both parties, but particularly within the Democratic party, have aspired to create the first fully formed digital campaign. That goal may now be within their grasp.

Happy Mother's Day 2012

May 29 Democratic Primary In Collin County

As the May 29 Primary Election looms, 2010 U.S. Congressional candidate John Lingenfelder and County Chair incumbent Shawn Stevens are seeking the office of Democratic Party of Collin County Chair. In this presidential election year, the Democratic Party's County Chair contest is about the only county wide primary contest that anyone is talking about in Collin Co.

Other than the Collin County Democratic Chair contest, there are four statewide Democratic presidential candidates on the countywide ballot - Barack Obama, and three unknown would-be spoilers, who few voters, if any, even know are listed on the ballot.

May 14-25 Early Voting Locations & Hours for May 29 Election.

May 29 Election Day Polling Locations & Sample Ballots.

The Voter Photo ID Law Isn't In Effect.

Find your election precinct number on your new yellow Voter Registration Card.

Find information about statewide candidates in the LWV Voter's Guide.

Houston PBS - Conversations with Candidates for U.S. Senate: Parts One, Two, Three, and Four

Four statewide Democratic candidates, including former state Rep. Paul Sadler of Henderson and Sean Hubbard, are also on the countywide ballot running for retiring Kay Bailey Hutchison's U.S. Senate seat. Hubbard is a first-time candidate who worked on Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2008. But, regrettably, Sadler, Hubbard, and the other two Democratic candidates for Hutchison's U.S. Senate seat are not widely known, so voter interest is low on that ballot position, too.

Katherine Savers McGovern and Walter Hofheinz are on the ballot for congressional district 32. The winner will challenge Republican incumbent and Tea Party favorite Pete Sessions in the general election this November for his congressional seat. District 32 encompasses election precincts in northern Dallas County, plus six southeastern area Collin Co. precincts.

The remainder of the five Democratic primary ballot styles, tailored to the county's 202 election precincts, are made up of uncontested single person ballot positions and three ballot proposition survey questions. The Collin Co. Republican Party has 36 primary ballot styles since that party has primary candidates running for every local and statewide elected office.

As Matt Taibbi said in a Rolling Stone article, "The apathy factor in American presidential politics this year has seemingly never been higher."

Tx State Sen. Ellis: Make Clear The Voter Photo ID Law Isn't In Effect

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, on Friday asked the Texas Secretary of State to make clear that the voter photo ID requirement will not be in effect for the May 29 primary.

Legislation passed in 2011 (SB 14) requires that voters present one of a select group of government issued photo ID, such as a driver’s license, passport or military ID, before casting a ballot.

The U.S. Department of Justice rejected the state’s application for preclearance of the law in March, claiming the state did not prove that the law would not have a discriminatory effect on minority voters.

The voter photo ID law is currently tied up in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. with the earliest possible trial date, according to court proceedings, not until July – and that is only if the State of Texas makes certain discovery document available this week.

A statement, as specified by the Texas Secretary of State, concerning identification requirements on the back of new 2012-13 Voter Registration Cards can be misinterpreted to mean that voters must present select government issue photo identification, as specified in SB14, in order to vote in the primary election.

Related:

• Voter Registration Card 2012-13
• Texas Voter Photo ID FAQ

When Same-Sex Marriage Was a Christian Rite

Contrary to myth, Christianity's concept of marriage has not been set in stone since the days of Christ, but has constantly evolved as a concept and ritual.

Prof. John Boswell, the late Chairman of Yale University’s history department, discovered that in addition to heterosexual marriage ceremonies in ancient Christian church liturgical documents, there were also ceremonies called the "Office of Same-Sex Union" (10th and 11th century), and the "Order for Uniting Two Men" (11th and 12th century).

These church rites had all the symbols of a heterosexual marriage: the whole community gathered in a church, a blessing of the couple before the altar was conducted with their right hands joined, holy vows were exchanged, a priest officiated in the taking of the Eucharist and a wedding feast for the guests was celebrated afterwards. These elements all appear in contemporary illustrations of the holy union of the Byzantine Warrior-Emperor, Basil the First (867-886 CE) and his companion John.

Read the full story @ Anthropologist Live Journal

Listen to NPR's interview with Pew Research Center's Andrew Kohut about the steady shift toward acceptance on the same-sex marriage social issue, May 11. (4:12)

President Obama announced his support for gay marriage this week after a long consideration saying his views were "evolving." The public's view of gay marriage has changed over the past several decades, with growing support.

In 1996, Americans opposed gay marriage by 65% to 27%, but today the public is more evenly split, with 47% in favor and 43% opposed.

Related:

• Pew Research Center's Michael Dimock on "The Diane Rehm Show"
• Andrew Kohut: The Electorate and Gay Marriage

Campaign Web Wars 2.0 - Republicans Strike Back

Raw Story

Tired of playing catch-up to the Obama Internet juggernaut, Republicans have rolled out a one-stop online shop for conservative activism which they hope will help them capture the White House.

The Social Victory Center, which launched this week and allows Republicans to do everything from distribute campaign materials to ring up undecided voters in battleground states like Ohio, has been craftily embedded in the most comprehensive social media landscape of them all: Facebook.

Call it the Republican National Committee’s newest weapon in campaign web wars 2.0, the virtual battlefield of the 2012 election. But is Democratic President Barack Obama’s huge advantage in Facebook, Twitter, digital advertising and online fundraising already unassailable?

President Obama's Campaign Kickoff

In back-to-back campaign rallies at Ohio State University and Virginia Commonwealth University on Saturday, President Barack Obama was introduced in Columbus and again in Richmond by first lady Michelle Obama. Thousands cheered and waved signs that read "Forward" as President Obama moved to speak to the assembled crowd.

President Obama in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday

During his remarks the president called Mitt Romney a willing and eager "rubber stamp" for conservative Republicans in Congress and an agenda to cut taxes for the rich, reduce spending on education and Medicare and enhance power that big banks and insurers hold over consumers.

Romney "doesn't seem to understand that maximizing profits by whatever means necessary, whether it's through layoffs or outsourcing or tax avoidance, union busting, might not always be good for the average American or for the American economy," the president said.

Romney and his "friends in Congress think the same bad ideas will lead to a different result or they're just hoping you won't remember what happened the last time you tried it their way. Obama said his rival was merely doing the bidding of the conservative power brokers and has little understanding of the struggles of average Americans. "Why else would he want to cut his own taxes while raising them for 18 million Americans," said Pres. Obama of the Republican presumptive presidential nominee.

"When people ask you what this election is about, you tell them it is still about hope. You tell them it is still about change," he said. It was a rebuttal to Romney's campaign, which has lately taken to mocking Obama's 2008 campaign mantra as "hype and blame."

"The economy is still facing headwinds and it will take sustained persistent efforts, yours and mine, for America to fully recover," the president said. He noted that jobs are being created and urged his audience not to give in to what he predicted would be negative campaign commercials designed to "exploit frustrations."

"Over and over again they'll tell you that America is down and out and they'll tell you who to blame and ask if you're better off than the worst crisis in our lifetime," he said. "The real question ... is not just about how we're doing today but how we'll be doing tomorrow."