Liberal Texas bloggers mustering political power

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

Source: Dallas Morning News

The decidedly liberal Texas blogosphere, once content with its role as outsider critic, is finally putting its money where its mouse is.

Earlier this year, bloggers formed a loose coalition, the Texas Progressive Alliance, and soon began raising money for Democratic candidates through the state's first blogger-created political action committee, TexBlog PAC.

But the biggest coup of all is the recent announcement that the daddy of all blogger meet-ups – Netroots Nation – is bringing its third annual conference to Austin.

It shows that the Texas blogosphere has arrived, members say. And they're confident their groundbreaking activism in Texas and efforts to raise the national profiles of their favored candidates – such as Democrat Rick Noriega, who is trying to unseat GOP Sen. John Cornyn – have begun to pay off.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/112607dntexpolblogs.28fab07.html

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Don't mess with liberal Texas bloggers!

[babylonsister]

1. Rec'd, thank you, and news to me! nt

[Joanne98]

2. I love the Lone Star Project! They ROCK!

:yourock:

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

3. Definitely

They've done a great job keeping hope alive in a deep-red State. One day, Texas will go blue, and those bloggers will be a big reason why.

[Joanne98]

4. That's very true!

[snappyturtle]

14. If you don't mind a slight correction: will return to blue! nt

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

15. Heh

[tammywammy]

5. Recommended

[Felinity]

6. Yippee!

From the article:

"Some of the more widely read Democratic blogs in Texas:

Burnt Orange Report: A group of current and former Capitol staffers, as well as consultants and guest writers, champion candidates and raise money.
www.burntorangereport.com

Capitol Annex: Vince Leibowitz blogs state politics with added investigation on House speaker politics and a prominent role in the Texas Progressive Alliance.
www.capitolannex.com

Pink Dome: Usually rabidly progressive, except for the occasional right-wing zingers, courtesy of proprietor and former Republican activist Charlie Ray. Mr. Ray also is director of new media at LIN TV in Austin, the local affiliate for NBC and The CW.
www.pinkdome.com

Musings: "The Muse" blogs from Fort Bend with a focus on Houston-area politics, including statewide lawmakers from the area and vocal support for Senate candidate Rick Noriega.
muse-musings.blogspot.com

Off The Kuff: Liberal-leaning Charles Kuffner in Houston blogs more from the center than most of the progressives.
http://www.offthekuff.com/mt

In The Pink Texas: Eileen Smith, also known as the "Pink Lady," blogs state and national politics, along with pop culture, and focuses her Democratic eye on the presidential race. She now has a foot in the "mainstream media," too, as Texas Monthly's online editor.
www.inthepinktexas.com "

[WatchWhatISay]

7. They've neglected to mention one of the best

KissMyBigBlueButt.com (formerly Juanita's)

[DeepModem Mom]

8. K&R

[gratuitous]

9. Good on ya, Texas

Let's get the opposition organized, fer crissakes. What with Rick Perry, Kay Bailey Hutchison and the irrepressible Dubya hisself, there are more than enough fat, slow-moving targets to rally people around. And if Molly Ivins is any indicator, there should be plenty of brainpower available to smack these dumbasses down. Go get 'em!

[PDittie]

10. Muse is a DUer

She hangs out mostly in the Texas forum. I didn't make the paper but I'm here too:

Brains and Eggs

[cascadiance]

11. A lot of good liberal Texas groups under the radar. I particularly liked Radio Left...

A whole bunch of them are shown on this page:

http://www.irregularnews.com/states/texas.html

Radio Left was what started getting me into tuning into alternative sources of info and not just browsing mainstream media sites when they were amongst the first to look at stories like the Valerie Plame incident before any MSM outlet would touch it, Sibel Edmonds' info, and even many others that still don't see the light of day like that of Margie Schoedinger.

[Cybergata]

16. Don't forget Ann Richards!

From what I know now, I wouldn't be surprised if the powers who put Bush into the White House also cheated so Bush could defeat Ann. First give Bush a state governorship, next put him the White House so the robber barons could run wild. I sure do miss Ann Richards.

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

12. Kick

[sonias]

13. GOP cowards

Under the listings from the story is the typical m.o. of the GOP - "anonymous writers" who are too chicken to stand by their words. So they're anonymous cowards really. Taking chickenhawk to the digital level.
:rofl:

he Austin Political Report: Conservative blog focuses largely on Travis County politics, with anonymous writers who are said to be GOP activists in the community.
www.austinpoliticalreport.com

Sonia

[Ishoutandscream2]

17. I wonder if the Texas haters will respond to this

I guess they still are under the illusion that we all own oil wells and ride horses to work.

There are progressives in our great state. We have work to do, but I'm still proud of my home. Texas.

[ChiciB1]

18. Oh Man... I Just Bet Molly Ivins Is Smilin From Her Grave! Having Lived In

Texas for many many many years, as an Army brat I lived there when it was Blue. When I left it was in the process of flipping as I took off to a state called Florida, which was yellow-dog blue then.

Seems I just CAN'T catch a break... now as a resident of my husband's place of birth, Florida has flipped and it's worse than Texas seemed to have been when I left. But Austin was Molly's home and it never seemed to lose it's "liberal" leanings staying close to Democrats for the most part.

Where I grew up and graduated from high school is now pretty red! A place called Ft. Hood, TX and I will soon go back for a class reunion and I always dread it. I was there when Iraq started and a friend of ours who lives in Jacksonville went back with us. We all have stayed Democrats so we were careful about being outspoken about how we felt about Iraq and what we felt was a disaster from the get go! I STILL get emails about Bill Clinton even though I NEVER send old school friends ANY political mail! Even when I've told them over and over I won't respond to the crap they send.

So this is GREAT news to me as I must return in April as a tradition of ours! I know where I'm going won't be changing any time soon, at least this time going back The Idiot Decider will keep a smile on my face.

I only wish Molly was still here! I miss her too and was lucky enough to meet her in person when she came here promoting her last book and giving a speech about her experiences with Dubya back then. So Molly, I believe there's life after leaving and I can almost hear you laughing!!

Go get 'em Texas, use those shit kickers and boot out the manure created by the man who spread it from his "fake" cowboy bowlegged ass and his Ranch that NEVER was!!

[madfloridian]

19. Texas Kaos another good one...didn't see it mentioned.

Used to be Texas Kos

http://www.texaskaos.com/frontPage.do

[Maestro]

20. Hopefully we can turn this state to the left once again.

It has been far too long!