GREETINGS FELLOW DEMOCRATS!





Needed: Election workers

Pay: Not nearly enough-$7 an hour
Training: Provided along with refreshments
Special needs: Bilingual workers
When: March 4, 2008 Presidential Primary Polls open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
Workers usually work from 6 a.m.-8 a.m.
Call 823-3479 or 779-5600 Leave a message if Linda and Maggie are not available





Volunteer opportunity: Get ready for Block Walking

Putting labels on door hangers
One batch is ready to be done now! The other batch will arrive from Austin on Friday.
Call 777-5600 or respond to this email





Office Hours

Office hours from January 22-24 may be irregular. Call before you come.
Office Closed on Jan. 21 in honor of MLK Day
Go to the parade and program in Bryan





Responding to Recession

By Paul Krugman
The New York Times
Published: January 14, 2008

Suddenly, the economic consensus seems to be that the implosion of the housing market will indeed push the U.S. economy into a recession, and that it’s quite possible that we’re already in one. As a result, over the next few weeks we’ll be hearing a lot about plans for economic stimulus.

Since this is an election year, the debate over how to stimulate the economy is inevitably tied up with politics. And here’s a modest suggestion for political reporters. Instead of trying to divine the candidates’ characters by scrutinizing their tone of voice and facial expressions, why not pay attention to what they say about economic policy?

In fact, recent statements by the candidates and their surrogates about the economy are quite revealing.

Take, for example, John McCain’s admission that economics isn’t his thing. “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” he says. “I’ve got Greenspan’s book.”

His self-deprecating humor is attractive, as always. But shouldn’t we worry about a candidate who’s so out of touch that he regards Mr. Bubble, the man who refused to regulate subprime lending and assured us that there was at most some “froth” in the housing market, as a source of sage advice?

Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani wants us to go for broke, literally: his answer to the economy’s short-run problems is a huge permanent tax cut, which he claims would pay for itself. It wouldn’t.

About Mike Huckabee — well, what can you say about a candidate who talks populist while proposing to raise taxes on the middle class and cut them for the rich?

And then there’s the curious case of Mitt Romney. I’m told that he actually does know a fair bit about economics, and he has some big- name Republican economists supporting his campaign. Fears of recession might have offered him a chance to distinguish himself from the G.O.P. field, by offering an economic proposal that actually responded to the gathering economic storm.

I mean, even the Bush administration seems to be coming around to the view that lobbying for long-term tax cuts isn’t enough, that the economy needs some immediate help. “Time is of the essence,” declared Henry Paulson, the Treasury secretary, last week.

But Mr. Romney, who really needs to take chances at this point, apparently can’t break the habit of telling Republicans only what he thinks they want to hear. He’s still offering nothing but standard-issue G.O.P. pablum about low taxes and a pro-business environment.

On the Democratic side, John Edwards, although never the front- runner, has been driving his party’s policy agenda. He’s done it again on economic stimulus: last month, before the economic consensus turned as negative as it now has, he proposed a stimulus package including aid to unemployed workers, aid to cash-strapped state and local governments, public investment in alternative energy, and other measures.

Last week Hillary Clinton offered a broadly similar but somewhat larger proposal. (It also includes aid to families having trouble paying heating bills, which seems like a clever way to put cash in the hands of people likely to spend it.) The Edwards and Clinton proposals both contain provisions for bigger stimulus if the economy worsens.

And you have to say that Mrs. Clinton seems comfortable with and knowledgeable about economic policy. I’m sure the Hillary-haters will find some reason that’s a bad thing, but there’s something to be said for presidents who know what they’re talking about.

The Obama campaign’s initial response to the latest wave of bad economic news was, I’m sorry to say, disreputable: Mr. Obama’s top economic adviser claimed that the long-term tax-cut plan the candidate announced months ago is just what we need to keep the slump from “morphing into a drastic decline in consumer spending.” Hmm: claiming that the candidate is all-seeing, and that a tax cut originally proposed for other reasons is also a recession-fighting measure — doesn’t that sound familiar?

Anyway, on Sunday Mr. Obama came out with a real stimulus plan. As was the case with his health care plan, which fell short of universal coverage, his stimulus proposal is similar to those of the other Democratic candidates, but tilted to the right.

For example, the Obama plan appears to contain none of the alternative energy initiatives that are in both the Edwards and Clinton proposals, and emphasizes across-the-board tax cuts over both aid to the hardest-hit families and help for state and local governments. I know that Mr. Obama’s supporters hate to hear this, but he really is less progressive than his rivals on matters of domestic policy.

In short, the stimulus debate offers a pretty good portrait of the men and woman who would be president. And I haven’t said a word about their hairstyles.





National company with success in Democratic Senate campaigns

In the On the Lege Blog today, Statesman reporter Gardner Selby writes about reaction to his recent report on the Democratic Senate campaign.

In the middle of the post, however, is the answer to a question a number of folks have been asking.

Selby writes, "Some more skinny: Noriega has retained Laguens Hamburger Kully Klose, which has offices in Washington and Seattle. The firm’s Web site showcases TV spots prepared for candidates including Jon Tester, a Democrat who won a Senate seat representing Montana in 2006. That year, the firm also did advertising for Debbie Stabenow, who won a Senate seat in Michigan, and Ben Cardin, who won a Senate seat representing Maryland."





Single Payer Health Care

As a follow-up to the January 3rd meeting concerning Single Payer Health Care you may want to view America's Dialogue II - National Heath Care video on you tube at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9E-8etrE2o





Inter-Religious Dialogue: Perspectives on Peace Workshop

From Walker County Democrat Club

Date: February 3, 2008
Light lunch: 12:00 noon
Workshop: 12:30 pm to approximately 1:45 pm
Where: Friends Congregational Church
2200 Southwood Drive, College Station (on the southwest corner of FM 2818 and Southwood Drive)

Though the great religions of the world each have foundations in peace, conflicts between the faith traditions have too often resulted in misunderstanding and conflict.

A representative of the Baha’i, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim faiths will each present their perspective on peace from their own religious experience.

Please mark your calendars to attend this informative workshop and great fellowship. Members of congregations from within and out of these faith traditions are invited and encouraged to participate.





Presidential Candidates and Global Warming

Dear MoveOn member,

In the last year, the major TV networks asked the presidential candidates 2,679 questions.

Pop quiz: How many were about global warming?

A) 514--after all, it's one of the top issues facing the country
B) 165--as many as were asked about illegal immigration
C) 3--the same number asked about UFOs

If you guessed 3, you're right: Reporters asked as many questions about UFOs as they did about the climate crisis--the biggest threat to our planet.

Can you sign our petition urging top TV reporters to ask the presidential candidates about global warming? Click here to add your name: http://pol.moveon.org/climatequestions/o.pl?id=11906-546643-sZ5soC&t=147

The petition to the reporters says: "The American public deserves to know where all the candidates stand on the climate crisis and the solutions they propose to address it. Asking those questions is your responsibility."

Please forward this email to your friends, family, and co-workers.





From Texas Blue

Speaking of primaries, we know now that the primary season will be lasting at least a bit longer than originally anticipated, perhaps even beyond Ultra Mega Tuesday. If things don't shake out to some sort of definition on February 5th, it is possible that both primaries might have some sort of real meaning in Texas. This is not a usual state of affairs for Texans, and we may not know how to respond; good for us, then, that William McKenzie took the time to give us tidbits about The Texas We Live In:

To show how much this place has changed, Democrats - yes Democrats - can count on Dallas being a welcoming place. Ditto Houston. Marry them up with Austin, El Paso and San Antonio, and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have ready locations to scour for votes.

Imagine it, Texas: a primary battle right on your doorstep, or at least one less than 150 miles away.





Brazos County Democratic Party
P.O. Box 4568
Bryan Texas 77805
979-779-5600 Fax 979-779-5601

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.
Harry S. Truman, Democrat, President of the United States of America