Dan Barrett Wins!

Texas Democrats and clear-thinking Republicans are one vote closer to ending Tom Craddick's autocracy in Texas. Dan Barrett defeated Mark Shelton in yesterday's District 97 runoff with 52 percent of the vote.

I took that picture of Dan at the polling place at Lily B. Clayton Elementary on election day in November and had a chance to talk to him briefly. He's good people. He's worked hard and he deserves this victory.

Congratulations, Dan! I'm looking forward to calling you my State House Representative in Austin.

UPDATE: Check out this column from Bud Kennedy. It's an interesting analysis of the District 97 runoff.

Stuff from the Paper

Fort Worth to Rick Perry -- Thanks for nothing: In a not-very-surprising move, Governor Goodhair chose Dec. 18 for a runoff election for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives, rejecting a request by Tarrant County election officials to hold the runoff on Dec. 11 to coincide with the District 9 City Council runoff. After learning of Perry's decision, the City Council moved the District 9 runoff date to Dec. 18. I figured that Slick Rick would do this because the thought of all of those Democrats showing up to vote for Juan Rangel or Joel Burns are probably also going to cast a vote for Dan Barrett. Burns told the S-T that he is concerned that a date closer to Christmas will hold down turnout. Rangel said he is concerned that no early voting will take place on a Saturday.

FW is gay-friendly: Not new information here, but still it is a positive trend that deserves noting. Sez the S-T: " "Fort Worth, long known as one of the nation's more conservative communities, is home to 10 times as many same-sex couples than it was 16 years before, a new study shows. ... In Fort Worth, the number of same-sex couples in Fort Worth jumped to 2,254 in 2006 from 196 in 1990, the study shows." Why is this positive? Richard Florida said in his book, The Rise of the Creative Class, thriving, growing cities attract culturally and ethnically diverse people — artists, gays, people who are physically fit and open-minded and anyone who thinks and creates for a living. I see this trend as a positive indicator of the city's economic health.

BOR Q&A with Dan Barrett

Burnt Orange Report has a long Q&A with Dan Barrett, the lone Democrat running for the District 97 State House seat on my side of town. Take a look and see what you think because there are six Republicans in the running and I'm thinking Dan has an excellent chance of making it to Austin.