SD7 Update ...
Quorum Report backtracks a little bit by noting that State Rep. Joe Nixon isn't yet officially in the SD7 race (they'd previously indicated he was officially "in"). His hiring of Allen Blakemore as his consultant, however, doesn't go unnoticed. More disturbing, however, is the possible entry of John (the) Devine, who is listed as "doing some polling." Devine did surprisingly poorly in the CD10 primary and the fact that Ben Streusand, another CD10 contestant, is in this pack, tells me that it ought to be tough for Devine to make any more inroads here than he had in 2004.
The quotes in the article, from Dr. Richard Murray, Jarred Woodfill, and Gerry Birnberg, all give the usual conventional wisdom - that this will be a tough district for Dems. No argument. Birnberg goes on to note that the open seats that Nixon and Hamric leave behind offer some room for hope. Nixon's district, clearly, is winnable for us. Hamric's has some areas that can help make that district competitive over time. Still, there's a need to field a candidate in SD7 (as well as the open seats ... and every other seat). Run 'em all.
MARGINALLY RELATED SIDENOTE: Unbeknownst to me, Joe Nixon now works with Beirne Maynard & Parsons, which used to be the firm Chris Bell worked for while he was a City Councilman.
MORE RELEVANT UPDATE: Via the comments, it appears Nixon's announcement is set for Thursday at 10am. Let the games begin ... the crook is effectively in the race now.
Nixon's in. I just got the following email:
"Six-term State Representative Joe Nixon will officially announce his candidacy for State Senate District 7 seat being vacated by Sen. Jon Lindsay this Thursday morning, August 25th, at 10:00am on the northern side of the Harris County Appraisal District headquarters building - along Langfield Road off the Highway 290 feeder road."
Go to www.joenixon.com and it's official -- he's in the race.
This is the same guy who brought you tort reform and had his minions at the mold contamination hearings saying "mold was gold" and "people file mold claims so they can remodel their homes".
Nixon later received $300,000 for mold remediation for his own $360,000 home. Hypocrite.
It's also worth noting that Joe Nixon joined Beirne Maynard & Parsons as a "big name" to help them land fat corporate clients. Only Nixon was so ineffective at drumming up new business that BMP has recently had to go through a round of deep lay offs (including laying off lawyers! Is that even legal?) due to a dramatic fall off in revenues.