On Election 2006

“Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work – that goes on, it adds up.”

—Barbara Kingsolver

There is a grain of truth to that quote. Although the elections are important in the long run—very important to the direction of our state—it is the daily work that goes on that adds up to real change.

That’s why we’re here in the Blogsphere, isn’t it?

We are the ones that do the daily work that adds up. And, though we may not think so on the heels of statewide defeat, it is very evident today across Texas.

Joe Farias. Ellen Cohen. Valinda Bolton. And, TexRoots’ shining star, Juan Garcia. For us, these are the victories we savor and where we know and can see we made a difference.

Of course, we made a difference in the other races too.

Although it was not evident in the polls, we kept the pressure on the opposition. We called out Rick Perry on his TXU connections before the MainStream Media did. We exposed Kinky Friedman as a racist and the MainStream media picked up that story. We made Kay Bailey Hutchison’s broken promises an issues. We reminded voters that Carole Keeton Strayhorn is a mere opportunist, that Susan Combs is a trashy novelist, and that Greg Abbott isn’t nearly as ethical is he pretends to be.

In that, there is victory. In that, we find hope. In that, we can find solace.

In our longrun, it matters that we were a force. And we will continue to be a force.

The first day of the 2008 election cycle was Wednesday. We declared our winners, celebrated our victories, shared collective tears over our defeats, and then went right back to work doing what we do best:

Showing people the light.

And, from here in the trenches, we will continue to do that. We will gain more seats in 2008, elect a Democratic President, maintain our majorities in Congress, shift Texas’ Delegation back into the Democratic column an set the state for a Democratic sweep from the governor’s office down in 2010. In a year when pundits said Texas Democrats struggled to be “relevant,” one thing was certain: the Texas Progressive Blogsphere is relevant.

And we will lead Texas Democrats down a path that shows the mainstream media that the question of whether or not Democrats are “relevant” is a purely rhetorical one.

Together, we can bring about a new day for Texas.

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