Two Days Gone

Well so much for the timeliness of blogging. Here we are Thursday morning and I'm finally putting a thought or two down with respect to what I've been doing with my life since September. Yesterday was too tiring despite actually getting some sleep the night before. After the first election had Borris' crew up past 3am, seeing an election settled before the news was on the air was something I'm now spoiled by.

In the end, it was too easy. But when you run against somebody that has 25 years on the job, you know it's never really easy. Borris Miles just ran hard. Simple as that. In the end, perhaps the runoff was a blessing. Borris seemed to have found his voice as a candidate late in the first round. Our mailings had distilled into a well-crafted issues-centered message. And the first election showed quite clearly that there was blood in the water.

On Election Night, Borris Miles made it a point to bring City Councilman Ronald Green and HISD Trustee Kevin Hoffman to the front. Together, those three now represent the first assualt of new leadership in Harris County politics. The end is not even remotely in sight for them. If you'll recall, when Ron Green was first elected, there were doubts about his party bona fides - mostly slung by his then-opponent in a heated runoff. This time around, it was Borris' turn to have questions about his party bonafides come into question - this time, from someone responsible for electing the most rightwing House speaker in Texas history. This time, from a man who eagerly cashed campaign checks from Republican donors to the tune of well over $50,000. Like I said ... it just seemed too easy for us.

The next wave of Democratic leadership in this state will inevitably have arrows slung at them by partisan purists. Mark Strama casts a few votes that don't fit cleanly into the Kos/PowerLine division of ideology. Ron Green actually agrees with a local rightwing talk radio host about something. Borris Miles chipped in what amounted to a low single-digit fraction of his political donations to a few Republicans. The future is not as clearly defined for the purists as they might like. But they've got a lot to look forward to once reality sets in.

In the case of Borris Miles, allow me a moment to tell you about the candidate I saw and the man I got to know. Borris Miles is, at once, the hardest person in the world to work with/for and the most loyal man of his word you will ever meet. I've seen him at the apex of the first only to see him reflect the second quality at the same exact time. The two qualities are inseparable with him. Perhaps the most amazing reflection for my own sake is that I end my work with Borris without any written contract or even a verbal agreement. We worked on a handshake - and both of us went above and beyond even that agreement.

My role in the campaign varied - sometimes by the day. I don't mind that sort of dysfunction. It meant that I wasn't limited. I wasn't pigeonholed. I wasn't typecast. Whether it was blockwalking, tech stuff, volunteer organizing, putting together a mailer/flyer/whatever ... it was all a thrill to do. Win or lose.

Obviously, I'm glad we won as I tend to prefer that over the other option. It was just over a year ago that I first called out the current incumbent. Over time, other bloggers would follow. Nathan Wilcox's profile still adorns the wall of HQ as it's perhaps the single best distillation of the case against Al in one blogpost. The next time you read something about the low batting average of national bloggers on seeing wins on Election night, know that there's a lot of proud Texas bloggers with some fingerprints on this win.

In a previous lifetime, I've had the benefit of working with people who came together to form the Houston Aeros Booster Club. What does that have to do with politics, you ask? Not much. But one aspect of such a group was that it seemed inevitable for people to approach the club President and say something like "This would be a great idea for the Club to do ... so why don't you do it?" In other words, everyone loved to put ideas forth but NOT be the ones to follow through on them. There's a lot of human nature that just goes into that. It's not unique to any one group or one type of folks. Where this intersects with our current story is that I've long since vowed to never be one of those people. Just over a year ago, I committed my first bit of bandwidth to suggest that Al Edwards' time was up. When someone stepped forward to turn that into a reality, I saw it as my obligation to help. Of course, I'm indebted t a certain other candidate for State Rep. for putting me in touch with Borris. And seeing how I've been making the case for reclaiming another Harris County seat for even longer, I'm now just as obligated to help her be the one to do just that.

I knew then, just as I know now, that Borris is not without his imperfections. I recall a certain conversation with a certain someone who was retelling a certain elected official's view of Borris. Cert-EO said "Well, he's a good politician." But it was said in a way to be intentionally coy. Make of it what you will, was the dare. But I couldn't disagree more. Borris Miles is a horrible politician. But that's exactly what was so refreshing about him. What he is is a genuine reflection of his community at it's best. There were several moments on the campaign trail that I just had to bite my tongue, avoid shaking my head in disbelief, and just murmur to myself: "He's not a politician; he's not a politician; he's not a politician." Yet, when you're busy running against a 25 yr incumbent and another challenger who's a skilled lawyer who knows how to hit just the right points to make his bonafides clearly known ... you just never know how it's going to play out.

Borris Miles isn't a politician by any stretch of the imagination. He's a successfuly businessman, a skilled salesperson, a tireless worker, and a man of unparalleled confidence in his abilities despite starting with little more than a loving family and not a lot else. I've said time and time again that Borris is a home-grown success story. That success came from taking risks. I wish Borris had spoken more about the time he signed over his first insurance business back over to Farmer's in order to open up shop in Houston's Third Ward. Farmer's wouldn't do it on their own shingle - Borris had to do it independently. That's a huge risk to take in order to give back to your community. Just like taking on a 25-yr incumbent was a risk to see your community get something more representative than a bill to ban undefined sexy cheerleading routines. Then, as now, the risk paid off. It's no coincidence when you've got a skillset like that of Borris L. Miles.

So how did we do it? Well, at this point, it's as simple as saying we had the best candidate. But we engaged on a lot of different directions, also. Blockwalking on both sides of the district with various teams at any given point in time. Enough mail to possibly make a redwood weep. Enough phone calls to make SBC smile. If there was anything we didn't do, I'd love to know. We hit on every front knowing that we didn't have much margin of error.

Borris' central theme throughout was that, as a product of the district, he'd be far less likely to vote against his district the way the incumbent did with his vote in favor of raising taxes on the poorest Texans so that the wealthiest might see a few bucks in savings. At times, I'd bemoan this approach as not going far enough. But when you win, everything in hindsight is nothing short of genius.

What amazes me with regard to Edwards' approach is that they changed it from a fairly aggressive approach in the first round to a very passive approach for the runoff. The first time around, there were instances of Edwards' people passing themselves off as Bennett supporters in order to get them to dish some of the dirt on Borris. Al Edwards actually showed up in Meyerland for what may well be the first time since he was elected to represent them in 2002.

The second time around? Edwards' strategy seemed intent on playing up his seniority and whatever sense of legend that he wants people to believe about him. He ran a rose garden strategy - holding town hall meetings, press conferences with Sylvester Turner (who talked more for Al than Al would), protests at TSU that served only one purpose - to make it look like Al had some relevance. I'm heartened to now see that people saw through all of that. I'm not sure why they went that route. But when you lose, I guess every decision gets second-guessed. So I'll let them do that. At the end of it all, there was material that we never got around to using (I've got some great drafts of material with a statue - an issue that was never really brought up). For their part, they decided to leave their critique of Borris with his GOP donations. Jeez, I had more material to use against Borris the first week of meeting him.

The list of winners and losers from this battle is going to be one that gets remembered. Sure, there were some endorsements that didn't offend much. Rev. Lawson has a long history with Al Edwards and is good friends with Borris Miles. I don't envy being in his position of having to choose. There's no hard feelings there.

Charles Soechting, on the other hand, has a different situation. I watched in adoration as Charles Soechting listed by name some of the worst GOP lobbyists/backers at a Braeswood Democrats meeting. HILLCO, of course, was target #1. So why did Charles Soechting make his bed with the one candidate who took a bundle of dough from that very firm? It's a display of hypocrisy that he'll likely not have to answer for until we see who some of his new legal clients are. Charles Soechting ends his time as State Party chair underscoring precisely why it is that so many Texas Dems doubt their party leaders as being even remotely capable of defending their best interests.

On the other side of this is Chris Bell. Chris, understandably, took some heat for stepping in and endorsing Boyd Richie to be the new State Party chair. But Chris also stepped in and made his voice heard early by endorsing Borris Miles. It was a sign that loyalty is not an entirely lost art in politics. Borris had backed Chris when Tom DeLay redrew the lines here in Texas. That was a tough time for Chris and it's good to see that good deeds don't go forgotten. When Democrats start wondering how to repair the party, they'd be wise to remember Chris as a rather clear break from people like Charles Soechting.

And, truth be told, there were a lot of elected officials that were on board with us. Half of Al's Harris County colleagues endorsed us whereas only 2 endorsed Al (Sly & Harold Dutton). Rick Noriega deserves some extra credit here, also. He came in the first day of the runoff to offer whatever help he could ... and the man delivered on that handshake. Rick's addition to our campaign made an enormous difference that can be measured very precisely in terms of votes. That's not something you can bet I'll ever forget. Acts of loyalty, courage, commitment, and honesty go a long way in life.

Working on Team Borris, of course, was a unique thrill for myself. Keith Wade deserves far higher praise than he'll ever get or he'll ever seek. He's the most modest, unassuming, humble, even-keeled giant-slayer you'll ever meet. I can't imagine a better fit for running a Borris Miles campaign. Nor can I give effusive enough praise for his ability to manage personalities (not the least of which - MINE!). I doubt I'll meet anyone better. Keith, it was an absolute honor and a privelege to work for you!

Of course, Keith had to learn a good deal about what he had on his hands. From some inflammatory SEIU Lovell commentary to high-priced lawyers stopping Keith and inquiring with something akin to awe that he had "Greg from GregsOpinion" working on the campaign, you'd have thought this little ol' nobody from the Greater Sharpstown/Gulfton area was a somebody. But only if you squinted really really hard. Believe me, I'm nothing. Just a guy with an opinion, some bandwidth, and the willingness to act on a belief. If there's anything more that I need, I trust the good Lord to provide. There were far more people that worked tirelessly to see this moment happen. Too many to name, really. I hope I'll make up this oversight over the long run, of course. This wasn't a campaign that just gets forgotten. This was one you remember for the rest of your life.