Site to consider....

Here is a fantastic webisite and a letter from Congressman Chris Bell (he brought ethics charges against Tom DeLay): www.savetexasreps.com
We can fight and win. DeLay's empire is unraveling.Even though I am no longer a candidate for public office, I am still committed to building a better Texas. I have launched a new PAC, The Texas Future Fund, to continue my fight for honest government. I need your help. Please click here to learn more about my effort :www.TexasFuture.org When I filed my ethics complaint in June 2004 against Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, many said he was invincible and untouchable. Now the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct has admonished Mr. DeLay on two of the counts included in my complaint and has left the most serious one pending action by the Travis County grand jury. Major publications across the country have called for him to step down from his leadership position and his troubles are far from over.The United States Supreme Court has sent the Texas redistricting case back to three judge panel which originally upheld; now the case must be reconsidered. Mr. DeLay's grand scheme could still be thrown out in the future.
Three of Mr. DeLay's closest aides that helped him carry out his redistricting scheme have been indicted by a Travis County grand jury for felony offenses. The Travis County District Attorney has not ruled out Mr. DeLay as a future target of an indictment. If that occurs, he will be forced to step down as majority leader. It could also lead to the reopening of my ethics complaint against Mr. DeLay since the committee decided to wait and see what action might be taken by the DA.
It's not even certain that Mr. DeLay will be returning to Congress next year. A large percentage of voters in his district say they are concerned about his unethical conduct and he is having to run a full fledged campaign - something he hasn't done in years. The ultra right-wing Club for Growth is spending almost $500,000 in Delay's district -- money that could have otherwise been spent to attack the Texas 5: Martin Frost, Chet Edwards, Max Sandlin, Nick Lampson, and Charlie Stenholm.
Speaking of the Texas 5, we are in the fight in all of those races and stand to pick up seats in the Texas House of Representatives for the first time since 1972. All of the building blocks are in place for the rebirth of the Democratic Party in Texas.
I'm doing my part -- campaigning hard wherever I can and continuing to spread my message that Democrats must be the party that stands for ethical reform in government. I will continue to work for reform of our political system and honest government that serves the interests of the people, not the corporate special interests. We face too many serious problems in our state - the uninsured, public school education, access to quality jobs - to allow only the privileged to have a say. We need an open, accountable government that will look out for the interests of the many, not just the few.
If you agree that it's time for Texas Democrats to stand and fight, please join me in calling for the long overdue reform of our political process.
Even though I am no longer a candidate for public office, I am still committed to building a better Texas. I have launched a new PAC, The Texas Future Fund, to continue my fight for honest government. I need your help. Please click here to learn more about my effort :www.TexasFuture.org
Thank you for your friendship and support

Democrats: We are Armed and Dangerous

While on the campaign trail, stress levels rise to new highs. Grumpy viruses are passed around like herpes at a frat party. Minute achievements become monumental. Waking up at 7:00 am is equivalent to sleeping in. Our team, minus the CB (crackberry - our newest and best team member), decided that there is only one way to remedy the stress of campaign life: shoot guns.
Initially, we wanted to go shooting one morning before we began our day. I walked into the shooting range, Starbucks lattes and my team in tow, and proudly stated "We want to shoot guns!" The Bubba behind the counter said "Y'all haven't shot before, have ya?". Hmmm, I wonder what gave him that idea?
As it turns out, we couldn't be worked into their schedule that day. Not deterred, we found a place yesterday out in the country that was willing to let us shoot. As we pulled up to the range, we became slightly frightened when we saw a big Bush-Cheney sign out front. This is not friendly territory. We walked inside the foyer, only to see a huge poster with a picture of John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi. The poster said "Beware: These People Want to Take Away Your Right to Bear Arms". YIKES. We proceeded into the most armed place I've ever seen in my life. The heart attack in progress sitting behind the counter asked "Hey y'all, how can we help you today?" This guy was morbidly obese and sweating like a pig, but extremely friendly. We were unable to hide our excitement.... We inquired about shooting, handed over our licenses. When asked as to our reasons for being in Dallas, we answered in unison "We're visiting friends." Allison and I volunteered to take the first safety course. The instructor was extremely friendly. We learned about the various parts of a hand gun, gun safety, etc. We were lead back to the land of the Bubbas where another man took us to the range. While he was instructing us, he informed us that John Kerry wanted to take away all the guns so that we couldn't defend ourselves against unknown danger. And apparently, according to Bubba 1, the gay rights groups in DC are lobbying for repealing the stringent gun laws in DC and are for concealed weapons. My instant thought was "You must be joking, guns would make a terrible accessory. No gay man in his right mind would carry one." I decided to keep that to myself. He must have thought he should appeal to our gay friendly side. He also informed us that we should place our shot targets on the front doors of our houses to show intruders that we mean business. Paranoia must be a bitch to live with.
I loaded the .9 mm Glock. I must admit that it was quite exciting. Gear on and ready to go, Allison and I shot our first gun. Exilirhating! Round after round, it was super exciting. The boys then finished their class and joined us. Rob even shot his target, a photo of a robber with a gun, directly in the eye. Even though they people were a little looney, they were extremely nice to put up with us. Afterward, the city dorks drove back to Dallas proper. While in the car, we called everyone we knew and told them about our adventure. Watch out world... We are armed Democrats!
On a campaign note, tomorrow evening is the volunteer recruitment event that CB and I organized. We are headed out to a massive block party in Cedar Springs, the gay section of dallas. Allegedly, there will be 5-10 thousands people running around - spectacles and spectators. My fantasy is that we can get some tricked out drag queens to volunteer, but I'll settle for 100 non-drag volunteers. Not all volunteers can be fabulous. This is the first event that I did without having to be asked. It's all Kelly ran. Let's see if it goes as smoothly as hoped.

BBW, LGBT, DCCC and Tom DeLay, the Cry Baby

This past Saturday evening, my friends and I decided to have a wine and cheese party in our hotel room. How could we forget that days in would be hosting Boo 2! If you must know, Boo 2 is a celebration at the Crazed Inn of, eh hem, larger women and the men who love them - in Halloween costumes. It was really quite frightening. I looked like Mary-Kate Olson on a bad day compared to these women! My friends Josh had quite an interesting experience. He was hanging out outside, smoking a cigar, trying to chill the best way Josh knows how, when suddenly a gigantic figure descended upon him. The woman, wearing at outfit that assumed the shape of putting toothpaste back into the tube, approached Josh. He maintained his outward demeanor of calmness, meanwhile freaking out on the inside. The woman asked "Hey, do you mind if I have a puff on your stogie?" Josh, always being the gentleman said "Uh, ok, sure" as he passed her the cigar. To this, the woman replied, "No, I don't mean that stogie!". Josh was quite traumatized.
We've had a new addition to our group - a wonderful man who shall remain nameless, but he is a Chief of Staff on the Hill. Thanks to his fantastic connections, I have an EXCLUSIVE INSIDE SCOOP! Tom DeLay is suing Gov. Howard dean over an ad that can be viewed on www.retiretomdelay.com. Funny how the asshole is all for tort reform, yet he is suing over a factual ad. The goal is that the ad will be aired for free all over the cable news channels. Wawww, wawww, boo hoo! Can't take your own medicine Tom? Would you like some cheese with your whine? I'm all torn up about it.
Yesterday, our teams attended two rallies on behalf of DCCC. The first was a Stonewall Democrats event (google Stonewall Riots NYC and you'll get 411 on the history of the name). Free food and a day with the gays! You can't really beat that - except if this were in DC, the free food would have entailed more than a cook-out without even cheese for the burgers! The gay and lesbian activists here aren't very hot (no wonder that some of my friends claim 30 is gay death - seemed like some of these guys had been reincarnated more than a few times - although the non-activist lesbians are pretty hot), but the gay area in Dallas is cool - complete with an S&M store for leather daddies, novelty stores, etc. We asked if we could put signs in the various establishment's windows. We're hoping that the owner of the leather store gave into our pleading.... MF is trying to reach all demographics! Fetish people vote too!
For two hours between the LGBT rally, we attended an "interfaith" rally. If interfaith means black protestant churchgoers, then by all means, it was an interfaith event. That was interesting, but much more boring than the LGBT event. The LGBT event was a fantastic change, as everyone in the neighborhood is an MF supporter. And these people didn't think that Kerry was going to teach homosexuality in schools - a refreshing change.
After the rallies, we decided to head over to our favorite part of town - Greenville. I introduced the caipirinha to the bar tender. Of course my group was smitten with the drink. After my group drank about $70.00 worth of caipirinhas, I convinced the bartender to put them on the menu permanently. I asked him to call it "The Kelly". He actually said he would consider it! Anyway, last night quickly, uh, ignited romantic, I mean, political passions, for many of the people who partied. All I'm going to say is call the Nookie Patrol.
Today we attempted to canvass in a Typhoon. We were swimming through the neighborhoods accomplishing NOTHING since the rain was debilitating. Although that is not completely true, we did accomplish something important - our group is back in tact! Rob was sent to another group, which had us all distraught. Thanks to some smooth talking by our newest member, Rob has returned! YAY. We feel whole and complete again.

Sleep? Sleep is for the dead, my friends!

What great blog entry doesn’t start out about a mid-stage tranny transsexual for those of you not in the know)?
Originally, our entire group started out as a group of 40, with each team being composed of 5 or 6 members. My team is the best. We have all assumed leadership positions – which has caused me to sleep three hours in 48 (woo hoo – punchy blog writing ahead). My team members and I are rocking along – me coordinating Super Saturday Events, Josh coordinating volunteer appreciation day, Rob being the IT guy for DCCC/Dallas, Allison coordinating the Halloween lit drop and “Pews to the Polls”.
Lucky for us, this makes us an integral part of the Dallas system. Some were not so lucky and were sent to Beaumont, the armpit of Texas. DCCC made a stupid decision by sending the veterans away when we already built a team of people. Meanwhile, the new people coming in are taking their places. Anyway, of course we had to celebrate! So out we went for margaritas – mmmm. Afterward, we decided to drink a beer in the lobby with our soon-to-depart Ben would be fabulous. Let me paint a picture of our hotel – it’s a veritable crack den. Ladies wandering around with 40s of Miller High Life (obviously living the high life). Crack heads wandering the halls. You get the picture.
We were sharing a few laughs, lamenting Ben’s departure… Suddenly in walks a middle aged white guy with a scantily clad woman… or so we thought… The prostitute was a transsexual! Obvious characteristics gave her away – such as her extremely long face, cut back muscles and huge hands. The KY jokes went flying and sadly, we had a few laughs at the woman’s expense. Such is life.
Over the last two night, I have had a grand total of five hours of sleep – everything has been leading up to today – SUPER SATURDAY – the only Saturday of early voting in this big state. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of working for 18 hours from 6am to 12pm. This morning, I had the privilege of waking up at 4:30 am! Exciting stuff my friends! I ensured that all five early voting precincts in our region were staffed, decorated, ready to give out food, soda and bash the opponent! I also ensured the delivery of 1000 balloons that say “Vote Democrat For Congress”. A person should never stress so much about latex unless a condom breaks.
On one random last note, a bit of karmic retribution… We had a team member who we shall call the Hobbit. The Hobbit was socially inept in every way. He was from Kansas and did not click with the team. Loved dungeons and dragons and revels in standing in line for Star Wars movies. The Hobbit only carried a Discover Card and had no ATM card! He is in his mid-twenties, lives at home and has never had a checking account. One day we gave him a bit of a hard time for carrying Discover. As it turns out, the powers that be wanted to send him to Beaumont. Team America was totally psyched about this development. The five turned to four totally socially competent people.
Yesterday, two of the four made a trip to Sam’s Club to buy necessary items for events. Turns out we had $438 worth of goods. We attempt to pay and as it turns out, Sam’s Club (evil evil evil Wal-Mart entity) does NOT take Visa (DCCC corporate card is Visa), MasterCard or American Express – but only Discover Cards and ATM cards!!!!! No one on the campaign had a Discover Card except the Hobbit and he was now 6 hours away… Finally, one of the older volunteers took one for the team and wrote a check for the amount and is praying to the gods of reimbursement as we speak….Super Saturday is off running and so must I….

Jesus is alive! Muhammed is dead!

Warning: Due to sleep and pop-culture depravity, blog may be more boring and disjointed than normal.

First, after Kerry-Bush, the Frost-Sessions race is allegedly the most watched race in the country thanks to DeLays ridiculous redistricting. The D-Trip is pumping $4 million into this race alone – that has nothing to do with the Frost Campaign (since we are a 527 along the likes of MoveOn.org and Truthout). DeLay wanted Frost out because he would then become the ranking Texan in Congress. SNEAKY BASTARD.

Canvassing in Texas is quite an interesting experience to say the least. Quick canvassing story for the day – D, another kid and myself walk up to a house with a nativity scene in the front yard. There are loads of Jesus bumper stickers all over a van and a sign next to the door of the house that says “Jesus is alive! Muhammed is dead!”. No, unfortunately, I’m not kidding.
Knock knock.
The most flamboyant looking man with mannerisms and lisp and voice to match answers the door. We give him our spiel. He says “Y’all got the spirit! Good luck with that! Do you love Jesus? Do you love Jesus? Praise Jesus! Praise Jesus!”. It seemed so surreal because this guy was in Diesel jeans, a fitted shirt and a spikey belt. Someone is so far in the closet they’ll never come out.

I was given such a fabulous assignment – I’m assisting with the coordination of Super Saturday Poll Fiesta. Two days from now is the first and only Saturday where the polls are open for early voting. We are doing this thing up right my friends! Tamales! Tacos! Soda! Music! Hot young, sweaty Democrats standing out in 95 degree heat for 12 hours yelling “BEAT THE HEAT, VOTE FROST!”, Frost jig dancing, etc. What’s sexier and more alluring to voters than that? Don’t answer.
Unfortunately, a lot of bullshit and getting lost around Dallas has been involved in the event planning, along with 14 hour days fueled with caffeine, adrenaline, flirting, and beer. Not to mention the occasional cheese-it and Reese’s Cup. I’m also assisting with the coordination of Operation Bribe the Kiddies. On October 29th, we will be handing out candy to kids as they get in their parents cars in carpool line. Who can resist a kid saying “Mommy, the nice lady gave me candy, vote Martin Frost!”? I could, but hopefully most people can't.

We watched the Red Texas beat the Yankees the Texas way – big and bad!! Everyone in the entire bar was a Red Sox fan, except for an unfortunate few who hid their heads in shame. You have never seen a happier group of Democrats in your life – their motto is the Red Sox represent Democrats and Yankees are the Republicans from the big, evil corporations. That sold me.

So I have to give a shout out to my team – D, C, R and W! We are the Fab Five because all things just keep getting better. We decided that on our half day off (yes, we get one half day off) that we are going to do the Texas thing in a BIG way – we are going to buy cowboy hats and head off to a shooting range in Ft. Worth! We can’t wait. Watch out, a bunch of Democrats with guns in Texas! When Camille starts her revolution, I’ll be ready to go.

Texas Erica - I'll give you a call soon! Hopefully tomorrow afternoon....

Hot Damn, It's HOT!

Imagine doing poll visibility when it's 95 degrees outside.... That's what I did today! Texas has a fabulous concept called early voting. Early voting began today and goes until the day before the election. There is one early voting location per precinct. Myself, D and a D-Trip guy headed for a poll and hung out all day long. We received alot of support, but there were quite a few naysayers with stucks stuck really far up their..... One NRA guy rolled his window down and said "I voted straight ticket Republican." To that I replied "I'm glad to completed your civic duty. Now you'll be able to complain when the Republicans screw up the country." He drove off in a huff. Texas politics are super dirty, FYI. There was an ad last night against Rep. Chet Edwards. They claimed that Chet Edwards wants to take "miners" (yes, that's how they spelled it!!!) across state borders to get abortions without parental consent and he is pro-partial birth abortions because he didn't sign the band! And in order to win, our candidate has to allie himself with Bush (can't remember if I mentioned that earlier in the blog). The days are long, the sleep is short. I'm living off diet coke, coffee, random food and random bouts of alcohol fun with the dems (wow, we sure know how to PARTAY). The people are great. I wrote the first blog after being very tired. The people are really fantastic - I'm sure I'm came across like a crazy woman the first day. We are off to see "Team America" tonight... should be interesting to see puppet sex!

A Nightmare on 10th Street......

More canvassing.... Today we (me and D, from the first entry, who is really quite an amazing guy - I think he was just chatty and making small talk on the plane) canvassed a street of spooks though, which made our day much more interesting than yesterday. Lots of condemned houses, half-way houses and crack houses on 10th Street.
We walked up to one house, knocked on the door. "Hello, are you X?" Response: "uheeerr eeeee uuuuuhhhh oooooddddoooo." He motioned for us to come inside. Apparently he was trying to tell use something, but neither D nor myself speak the language of Sloth, from the Goonies. I really wanted to try my Chewbacca impersonation and even possibly say "VOTER BOOTH!" or "KELLY LOVES VOTERS!" in my attempt to speak Sloth. Alas, I didn't want to freak out D or Sloth's black cousin, so we left.
Another interesting house, which looked partially condemned, belonged to an older white male (very rare on the street). The front door was opened and it was apparent that he has some sort of hording disorder. Old newspapers, boxes, etc. were piled high in his house. Very old. Well, WM (white male) was working in the yard. We walked up and tried to talk to him. He looked at us and said "uh, Hi" and body language indicated we weren't so welcome. Suddenly a dog popped his head out of the rolled down car window and was barking like a freak and growling - a bull terrier/something mix. The owner watched as the dog proceeded to jump out of the window, run toward us bearing teeth, barking and growling. The owner laughed as the dog chased me off and D actually stood between me and the dog, ready to kick the dog in the head if necessary. As the dog chased us off his property, the Republican laughed and yelled "BYE". He knew who we were with b/c we are wearing t-shirts with VOTE FOR ----- on them.

One woman, who is voting for Kerry, told us her friend is voting for Bush because Kerry is for same-sex marriage and if he has it his way, they will be teaching people about gays getting married in the elementary schools, spreading the gay agenda. She also said her friend thinks Kerry is pro-abortion and wants to kill babies. She asked for our advice on how to convince her friend to vote for Kerry. I took a big breath, gave her the corrected spiel that was slightly skewed but completely accurate as far as D and I were concerned.

There is a group member who is different than the rest of us. We'll call him K. K has a major problem reading social cues. He's came down from a midwestern state. He plays fantasy games on the computer. Some people "yell" at him and say "don't bring politics in this town - no reality in this fantasy." He lived at home during college. He's about 23 or 24 but looks over 30. He's just.....bizarre.

Tomorrow is the wake-up-at-the-ass-crack of dawn day. We have to be at headquarters at 6:45am for poll visibility. Texas has early voting that starts tomorrow. Woo hoo!!

Knock-knock jokes and Log Cabins (not the syrup!)

Yesterday was one long knock-knock joke in a low-middle to middle income neighborhood that went something like this:
Me: “Knock knock”
Person: (doesn’t say anything, but should say “Who’s there?”)
Me: Kelly with the Democratic Party. I’m here on behalf of the MF for Congress campaign.
Person: “Uh, no puedo votar porque soy immigrante.”
Me: “Oh. Lo siento. Gracias. Espero que tengas un buen sabado.”

GOTV is a difficult thing in the Hispanic neighborhoods. Even some of the registered Latinos speak limited English. Canvassing (GOTV by foot) is even more difficult if you a.) aren’t from Texas and b.) not from Texas AND not from MF’s district. Plus, this is Bush country. Even the Democrats are voting for the freak show administration. We can’t talk about Kerry at all because we’ll lose MF supporters.
There are also hazards with canvassing – the biggest one being dogs. I can see why mailmen are so afraid of them. There are some scary freakin’ dogs here. We don’t go into fenced yards with dogs.

On to something new… D in the aforementioned entry is actually a decent guy. Neurotic, self-depricating and a little insecure, but a good guy. Anyway, last night we went out to a hip area (the Adams Morgan of Dallas) of town called Greenville. We ended up at the ZuBar. Very funky, hip, sheik, etc. In walks this flaming queen with a Bush-Cheney button on. I told my friends “I bet that guy is wearing a Bush Cheney Button out of a dare. I’m going to ask him.” The group was like, “Ok, whatever.” Well, the group I was with does not know me very well yet, but they are learning. I went up to LC (Log Cabin) and asked “Did someone dare you to wear that button?”. He replied “Honey, just because I’m a fag, doesn’t mean I’m not pro-life. I’m a proud Log Cabin Republican.” I told him I was very excited to meet my first Log Cabin Republican stating that we don’t have many of those in DC. I told him what we were here for. “Well sugar, don’t mean to burst your bubble, but you don’t have a chance in hell. This is Texas where the gays are Republicans! I applaud your effort though.” We chatted. I returned to my table. The group asked if I knew him, unaware that the reason I make such a good canvasser is because of my ability to talk to complete strangers in a manner that seems as though I’ve known them for years.

Big talkers, big name droppers, big hair, big hats – Howdy from Texas!

I love Texas. Maybe it’s because my kin is from these parts of the country, but I received 3 messages on my phone when I got off the plane of people calling me: “Hi Sugar, it’s Nana. You’re in the best city – the city where I was raised up! I love you darlin’. Call me”. “Hey Kelly, this is Sharon! You don’t need to stay in that hotel girl. You can stay with us. Call me when you get in.” “Hey girl, it’s Dad. You must be in THE city by now!”. FEELIN’ THE TEXAS LOVE. It’s going to be a good trip. Now on to darker prospects…..
The Hill. For those of us who live in DC, it seems like a segregated place. The Hill people stay on their side. The rest of us stay on our side. No one gets hurt. I’ve decided there is a reason those of us non-hill employees stay on our side: we aren’t obsessed with power. One interesting quality that seems across the board is that everyone on this trip who descended from the hill thinks that one day they will either work in the White House either behind the scenes or as President. It is a definite possibility. Some volunteers appear to be shining stars while others are full of shit.
I’ll tell you the story of someone I’ll call D. I sat next to D on the plane. D went to an Ivy League school. D grew up on the Upper West Side. Went to a shee-shee private school, partied with people who partied with the Hiltons, said the closest thing to his high school was “Cruel Intentions”. D had an internship with a SUPER famous senator. He drinks scotch (drank some on the plane). He’s just out of college. He ended up saying something about buying scotch in 15 years, but at that point he’ll be 37 and may have a wife and kids. Very upset that it took him 4 whole months to find a job, but lo and behold he landed it today and he’s sure I’ll get a job very soon. He did not land a job on the Hill, but would desperately like to work up there. When he found out that not only did I a.) not work on the hill and b.) don’t have a paying job, he quickly lost interest in kissing my ass. However, the guy sitting next to me works for a certain famous female representative from California. All of the sudden D’s ears perked up. Let’s play the “do you know” name-dropping game. To his credit, he does talk poorly about his former high school days.
The next leg, I sat next to BT – Boring Talker. He must have Ausberger’s Syndrome because BT could not read my social cues. He was telling me the longest story about how he ended up working for the DNC. Before the DNC, it was NGO X and he was hob-nobbing with ambassadors. It was all that I could do to smile and nod while he continued to hack and sneeze his sick way through this snooze fest of a story.
Luckily, there are cool people on this trip. One is my roommate and she does not work on the Hill! Surprise, surprise. The other is a kid that has an internship with a certain kick ass Senator from NY!!!Tomorrow is GOTV day. GOTV= Get Out the Vote. We are going to get the votes out early for our dems.

That was written last night - jet lagged and all. Now imagine this - allegedly there is wireless internet in this days in. Not in the room though. "Ah ma'am, it's downstairs." Not in the lobby. The wireless signal is right in front of an office door. All of us are crowded around it attempting to connect to the world outside of the Days Inn in the sketch part of town.

Training begins soon! Should be FUN. FUN FUN!!!

Texas T, Longhorns and Republican evil-doers

This blog will chronicle my misadventures in Texas - my attempt to undermine the Republican Evil Man - Rep. Tom DeLay. Not sure if you remember, but this year, Tom DeLay successfully re-drew congressional lines to favor Republicans! The Evil Sneaky Bastard!
So the DCCC, a wing of the DNC, decided to pool together a group of hyper people ready to kick some ass in the Lonestar State. For the next two weeks, I will chronicle my experience of canvassing in a very interesting state. If I get enough requests, I'll attempt to egg a certain ranch where a certain idiot vacations.
It'll be me and a million hill staffers. Think I can hold my own against those underpaid, cheap beer loving young people? You betcha!