Down to the Wire in HD 29

OK, maybe one more tiny one on Dr. Anthony DiNovo’s run at Texas HD 29’s seat.

Today I met Karl-Thomas Musselman of the Burnt Orange Report as he came into the DiNovo HQ for a first look around. He seems like a nice guy and was eager to get to work. We talked briefly about what was going on then he went in to meet Tammy, the DiNovo campaign’s very capable campaign manager, and I went back to my calls.

Karl-Thomas’ mission is to devote his blog to the remainder of the campaign. I’ll only be part-timing it there until Election Day – final exams to give, heads to mess with – the perks of being a teacher. So it’ll be great to see someone else’s take on this campaign.

I swear I am going to be dreaming my script tonight. It seems like I was continually dialing from 11AM until 7:30 PM. My call list was 18 pages long, and there were at least 22 numbers per page. You do the math. I called every democratic household in Precinct 3A and 3B in Matagorda County (well there are six more to go, actually). Some people were really nice and appreciated my call. I called the President of the Palacios ISD school board; I know this because he told me so. A real nice guy. He was very interested in the campaign and wondered why there weren’t more campaign signs out. I just checked out their website, and wouldn’t you know it, I talked to half the members of the Board of Trustees of Palacios ISD today!

One thing that this Californian learned today: when you talk to non-Hispanics in Palacios, you pronounce the name Puh-LAY-shus. When you talk to an Hispanic, you pronounce it Pa-LAH-ceeos. One of those Texas things you have to get used to.

Aside from the phoning, the day was a normal day in the DiNovo “New Beginnings” Campaign. That is, more of the same kind of “stuff” going around. You can see that it’s all taking a toll on Tammy. She is an unbelievably devoted campaign manager. Not only is she doing all of the chores of running a campaign, at other times she is dialing down her phone list talking to the voters. But you know, these people are all highly paid so they should have to be made to take this “stuff” on the chin again and again, right?

Oh, I forgot. She’s working for free.

My best advice to Karl-Thomas? Don't mention the phrase "run off election" within earshot of Tammy.