Last week, one of the state Democratic Party’s premier number crunchers, Leland Beatty, said that a large influx of new voters are excited about the Democratic brand because of the presidential nomination contest but that the Party needs to follow through with the resources for that enthusiasm to translate into success at the ballot box in November.
Since then, QR has gotten wind of one such effort to do exactly that. Dubbed Paint Texas Blue, this new effort has a tightly defined focus – raising money for Texas House contests as a way to nudge control of that chamber into Democratic hands or perhaps away from the current Speaker.
The group is new (its PAC filing papers are less than a month old) but its ambitions are large. Sources tell QR that the immediate goal for the group is to raise $2 million for the current cycle, which if accomplished would certainly make them a player.
So here's what you do: wait until opportunity shifts the current political landscape and rally a couple million bucks behind that shift. If you win, you're in the middle of the action. The trick is being in the right place at the right time and controlling distribution of a couple million bucks. Good luck with that.