RRC race gives Dems a chance

[sonias]

Amarillo Globe-News 4/11/10
RRC race gives Dems a chance

Texas Democrats just might be on the verge this year of breaking a long-standing Republican vise grip on every statewide office.

(snip)
It’s been more than a decade since a Democrat occupied a statewide office in Texas; John Sharp served as Texas comptroller until 1998, when he lost the first of two unsuccessful bids for lieutenant governor.

Although much of the political attention in Texas will focus this fall on the high-dollar governor’s race between Republican incumbent Rick Perry and Democratic challenger Bill White, an even better race could develop between Republican David Porter and Democrat Jeff Weems in their race for a spot on the three-member Texas Railroad Commission.

(snip)
Weems comes into this race with superior credentials. He’s an oil-and-gas lawyer from Houston, which is a highly relevant qualification, given that the RRC’s exclusive responsibility now involves energy regulation. It also used to regulate trucking and, oh yes, railroads. But those duties were stripped away over many years, leaving the commission to mind the store over oil and gas production.

But does Weems’ sparkling background and knowledge of these issues guarantee him a victory this fall over Porter?

(snip)
Against Weems, though, Porter won’t have that particular built-in advantage going into the fall campaign. He will, however, have an edge merely because he is the Republican Party nominee for an office in a state that tilts heavily Republican across the board.


(snip)
Jeff Weems, though, at least stands a puncher’s chance of scoring a knockout against a Republican opponent.

He’s smart, articulate and well-qualified.

This editorialist for the Globe-News swings wildly back and forth between hope and change and doom and gloom. It sounds like he wants Jeff to win but he's also convinced that Republican voters are not very smart, so they may vote against the best qualified candidate because they just roll that way.

I'm hoping that Texas voters (the majority of them anyway) will vote for the best qualified candidate - Jeff Weems!

You go Jeff!!! :bounce: :woohoo: :bounce: