"Twas the Night Before Convention

'Twas the night before convention, and all through the house
[ Whups! I meant Senate! ]
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a Progressive-Liberal mouse

But a LOT of creatures will be stirring in Fort Worth tomorrow ... the Texas Democrats are going to be converging in the thousands.

As a veteran activist (can I say "veteran" after only doing this for four years?) this is going to be much more than a simple photo op (which has been my impression of State and Natinoal conventions I've participated in so far).

Several major points:

• The State Chair (Charles Schoechting (may have spelled this wrong, if so SORRY! will correct later) resigned two months ago.


• The State Chair race is pretty heated (not ANGRY, just HEATED) with at least 4 candidates
  


• THe Progressive Populist Caucus (PPC) has already proven itself to be a force within the party; and it has helped the
  party as a whole (IMHO) WITHOUT AGENDA by helping to develop and distribute training materials for Precinct
  Chairs (among other things).
  


• The PPC sent out an online EMAIL-based survey to as many delegates as it could find EMAILs for (about 900), and
  the results (see this link) are very interesting; my favorite part of the conclusion states:
  
  

  
  Regarding Party reform among respondents, there has been shrinking of those who believe “minor Party adjustments” are needed and an increase in the numbers that “dramatic reform” is needed for a winning Party. Some describe these respondents as “Angry Democrats” who seem determined to repair their party rather than “drop out”.
  

  
  

As David Van Os (candidate for Attorney General) has said on a number of occasions: "this mess in Washington STARTED in Texas. It needs to be cleaned up FROM TEXAS BY TEXANS!"

Yee-haw! Keep an eye on Texas this weekend ... should be a doozy.