Texas House candidate Redmond getting royally swiftboated! See pic

[catgirl]

Open left:

Swift Boat funder Robert Perry, a top national Republican donor, is funding overtly racist attack mail this cycle. It's not Swift Boating. It's Race Boating.
A group called "Empower Texans," chaired by Tim Dunn of Midland, an associate of Republican Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, attacked Democratic state House candidate Joel Redmond of Pasadena with a direct mail piece featuring fuzzy images of black and Hispanic lawmakers (plus Barack Obama), several black birds resembling crows, and a picture of the white Redmund. The tag line: "Birds of a feather flock together."

Anyone with any racial sensitivity gets the meaning of the mailer: Redmond has betrayed whites by befriending people of color. He can't be trusted.


More (with picture of mailer):

http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9293

This is in the Houston area. Anyone know about the state of this race (besides the smears...)?

[babylonsister]

1. I got called by someone (from Maine!) about this race.

His competition seems like a real slimebucket judging from the questions asked, which I discussed with the guy calling. There are quite a few of both candidate's yard signs around here. And I'm voting for Redmond. :P

Edit to add, from Burnt Orange, state of the race=tossup.

http://www.burntorangereport.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7086

HD-144: Joel Redmond (D) vs. Ken Legler (R) - Open Seat

by: Phillip Martin
Tue Oct 14, 2008 at 02:00 AM CDT

STATE OF THE RACE: Toss UP

Candidate Page: Joel Redmond
Candidate Page: Ken Legler

House District Map: District 144
District History: 2006 Election Results

Click here to return to the Burnt Orange Political Report home page.

30-Day Out Campaign Finance Report:
HD-144: Redmond vs. Legler
Contributions Expenditures Cash on Hand
Democrat Joel Redmond
$137,045.24 $89,666.32 $90,445.56
Republican Ken Legler
$44,719.51 $24,310.64 $14,276.07
Redmond's Advantage $92,325.73 $65,355.68 $76,169.49

Another of many open seats in Texas this cycle, Democrat Joel Redmond is running an impressive campaign to win back a Republican seat formerly held by State Rep. Robert Talton. Talton -- though a staunch opponent of Tom Craddick -- was one of the most conservative Republicans in the Texas House. Therefore, this is the rare seat where a Democratic pick-up wins us on all policy votes, and is a "hold" for the mythical and ever-elusive Speaker tally.

But back to Redmond. Did you see thsoe fundraising numbers? And we learn this from Kuff's interview with him:

As of Labor Day Redmond had visited half of the 40,000 homes with registered voters in them.

I will only add that Redmond is doing an obviously outstanding job running a ground game in Harris County, an area of the state where Republicans already have their hands full. While it can be hard to separate all the races in Harris County -- home to our U.S. Senate candidate, a competitive U.S. House race, a potential pickup in the State Senate, several State House races, and an entire County official slate -- it may end up benefiting Redmond that his seat flies under the radar.

Don't be surprised to see this race move up the rankings -- for Democrats -- in the coming weeks.

[catgirl]

2. If this story gets legs, the race is over

The GOP is getting scared of the impact these smear campaigns are having on voters.
The RNCC just pulled all of its Michelle Bachmann ads in MN! I hope this one has the
same effect!

Thanks for the detailed update!

[stillcool]

3. they're going off the deep end..

fuckers.