Picking your fights

One of the more important things a campaign can do is to "frame the debate" -- to pick the key issues where your vision/experience/results differ from your opponents vision/experience/results and to make them a focus of the campaign.

After reading this article in the Houston Chronicle which implicitly referred to Chris Bell as conservative, I shook my head a bit. I mean, come on -- Chris Bell??? Conservative???

Then I thought, well, let's just check out his website. So I did.

I thought perhaps he'd hit on some good liberal issues like abortion or affirmative action. To my surprise, it was rather tame. His "issues" page highlights these topics:

Rebuilding Public Education
Reducing Barriers to Higher Education
Honoring our National Guardsmen
Protecting Kids
Fighting for Rural Texas
Healing the Sick
Expanding Home Ownership
Finding Common Ground

Not "conservative" issues, but certainly not "lefty" ones, either. A nice, safe assortment of "America, Mom, & Apple Pie" topics. (I mean, really, who would rationally be against any of these things?) Rather than poke into each one here, I'll just highlight one in particular: "Expanding Home Ownership".

Now, remember framing the debate is usually about highlighting your opponent's weaknesses and showing your strong alternative. Not only does Mr. Bell set up a false straw man based on things that haven't happened and don't exist, the reality flies in the face of his allegations.

Perhaps Mr. Bell's team didn't run across this little nugget:

Governor Rick Perry Proclaims June Home Ownership Month in Texas: Home Ownership Makes a Vital Contribution to Building and Strengthening Texas Communities

In that article (press release), we find out that:

"While Texas is among the states with the 10 lowest home ownership rates in the
nation, Texas' home ownership rate is steadily increasing, facilitated by
homebuyer programs like those offered by TDHCA."

See the article for other details about what Texas (under Gov. Rick Perry) actually does regarding home ownership.

Again, this topic was considered so important by the Chris Bell campaign that it is highlighted on his website. If this is the best he can do, this is just one example of many why Chris Bell will not win this election.