{"id":1381,"date":"2010-01-11T21:10:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-11T21:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/2010\/01\/11\/its-all-just-talk"},"modified":"2010-01-11T21:10:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-11T21:10:00","slug":"its-all-just-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=1381","title":{"rendered":"It’s all just talk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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All the brave talk I have been hearing from local Democrats about how they’re going to come storming back is just that: talk.<\/p>\n

Looking at the ballot for this spring’s primary season presents a pretty gloomy outlook for Panhandle Democrats. In races involving Potter or Randall counties, I find a single name running for a contested seat: Abel Bosquez, Democratic candidate for House District 87, a seat that has been held since The Flood by a Republican. Bosquez is a political animal, namely as a one-time chairman of the Potter County Democratic Party. He is married to a Democratic justice of the peace, Nancy Bosquez.<\/p>\n

I have to admit to being surprised that one longtime local Democratic officeholder, Potter County Commissioner Manny Perez, escaped getting a challenge this year. Perez seems to draw an opponent every election year, but not this time. Why is that a surprise? Perez didn’t acquit himself well with many Potter County leaders over his stubborn resistance to a tax increment reinvestment zone for downtown Amarillo. I thought the big-money interests in Potter County would have found someone to challenge the combative Perez in 2010.<\/p>\n

But that’s what I get for thinking, I guess.<\/p>\n

But given a chance to contest other races, the Democratic Party is a no-show in 2010 — at least in this part of the Lone Star State.<\/p>\n

It’s a shame, given that a two-party system works better than a one-party system. A strong opposition party often keeps the party in power more accountable and less arrogant. It’s true no matter which party is in the driver’s seat.<\/p>\n

And besides, the Democrats have a first-rate candidate near the top of the ballot; he is Bill White, the recently former mayor of Houston who switched his goal from the U.S. Senate seat he (and everyone else) thought<\/em> would be vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison, to a run for governor. Make no mistake, he will mount a formidable effort against whomever the Republicans nominate in March.<\/p>\n

That excitement obviously didn’t filter on down to the local level, at least not here, where the Republicans continue their vise-grip on the political infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n

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All the brave talk I have been hearing from local Democrats about how they’re going to come storming back is just that: talk. Looking at the ballot for this spring’s primary season presents a pretty gloomy outlook for Panhandle Democrats. In races involving Potter or Randall counties, I find a single name running for a … Continue reading It’s all just talk<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}