Lubbock Left

Just want to get some thoughts down as the afterglow of Election Night wears off.

(By the way — the Lubbock Democrats victory party was definitely the best place to be last night we had 200+ people of all races laughing, crying, hugging, dancing, and having a great time!)

Two things weigh heavily on my mind amid the joy of the Obama/Biden victory.

First, every single anti-gay ballot initiative in this election passed, even California’s prop 8. This is terrible. We have a long way to go in terms of gay rights in this country.

Second, our local and statewide Democratic candidates did not do as well as I had hoped. At the county level, we kept our one Democratic seat on the Commissioners Court, and that’s it. We failed to unseat Congressman Randy Neugebauer, a Bush Republican who bears some responsibility for our financial crisis. We didn’t elect Rick Noriega to the Senate, although we did make John Cornyn sweat a little.

Reigionally, we kept Joe Heflin — a real rising star in Texas politics — in his TX-85 House seat. He will continue to do his district proud.

In the meantime, I look forward to having a President I can be proud of and a spirit of progress that we can feel in our hearts.

Congratulations, President-Elect Obama, and good luck on picking out that puppy!

The Lubbock County Democratic Party will host an election night victory party downtown at the Baker Building, which is on 13th street between Ave K and Ave L.  The party gets started around 8pm, and we’ll be watching the returns from all over the USA as well as our local results.

See you there!