Scoreboard Planned Parenthood

I tweeted this yesterday evening:

Marc Campos ‏@MarcCommentary 14h14 hours ago

Not so smart @CNN talking head said a while ago that @DADevonAnderson was a Democrat. #PlannedParenthood

It is downright pathetic to see the GOP state leadership run and hide from a Harris County grand jury decision. Scoreboard says it all. I don’t think I need to say anything else about this.

I watched the Dems last night on CNN and I thought they all did OK.

Jose Altuve led the team with 86 runs scored last season. Who was number 2?

It was really good to see a number of Latino community leaders yesterday at an Adrian Garcia for Congress press conference at Moody Park. I was actually surprised at the turnout. It really felt that these folks are the pulse of the Latino community. There certainly was enthusiasm in the air. One precinct chair told me before the press conference that this should have happened a long time ago. I could not agree more. If we are going to move forward as a community, this is where it starts.

This is the type of coverage the CD 29 race needs. Here is from Rebecca Elliott:

Months after mounting a passive, ultimately unsuccessful Houston mayoral campaign, Adrian Garcia has swiftly taken on the role of attack dog in his bid to oust longtime U.S. Rep. Gene Green from the 29th District in the Democratic primary.

A Garcia press release out Monday morning proclaimed in all caps, “GENE GREEN SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED A LONG TIME AGO,” the latest in a series of statements slamming the incumbent’s record on issues ranging from gun safety to the environment.

Political observers said Garcia’s about-face reflects lessons learned from his recent loss and the nature of a quick primary challenge.

“He needs to give folks a reason not to vote for the entrenched incumbent, so he’s trying to create a differentiation based on policy,” Texas Southern University political scientist Jay Aiyer said of Garcia.

“If you think you lost last time because you were too passive, this time you’re going to be more aggressive, and I think there’s a certain element of that involved, as well.”

Garcia was a presumptive front-runner when he entered the crowded mayoral field last May, but his campaign was slow to respond to attacks on his record as Harris County sheriff.

The former lawman resisted swinging back until the weekend before early voting began, when his poll numbers already had begun to fall.

“He emerged as the piñata that everybody else took a stick to, so it was all incoming fire and he didn’t know where to direct his fire,” University of Houston political scientist Richard Murray said.

Now, seeking to cultivate the 29th District’s Hispanic electorate, Garcia has traded campaign staff and tactics.

Over the last three weeks, Garcia has criticized Green’s voting record on gun safety and environmental legislation while tying him to the district’s comparatively high poverty rate and low rate of educational attainment, among other issues.

“When you know that you’ve got one in three children living in poverty, you’re expecting some leadership from that point,” Garcia said after a press conference Monday announcing the backing of several Latino community leaders. “I’m just speaking to the record.”

‘About the job’

Roughly 24 percent of the 29th District’s 750,000 residents lived below the poverty level in 2014, according to U.S. Census data, up about 2 percentage points since 2000. Fifty-nine percent of the district had a high school degree or higher in 2014, an increase of about 6 percentage points over the same time period.

By comparison, about 17 percent of all Texans were living below the poverty level in 2014, and 82 percent had a high school degree or higher.

“It’s only on the statistics in the district. You haven’t seen us go after Gene Green on character, anything about him personally,” campaign manager Ian Rivera said. “This is solely about the job.”

Green knocked Garcia for being hypocritical.

“He didn’t say that back when I supported him when he ran for City Council back 10 years ago,” Green said, referring to Garcia’s email Monday. “He didn’t say that when I supported him when he ran for sheriff in ’08, and he didn’t say that when I actually supported him when he ran for mayor last year.”

Green also defended his voting record and pointed to recent increases in household income and high-school education rates in the district. Census data shows median household income in the 29th District was $39,580 in 2014, up from $32,218 in 2000.

“I do believe people have the right to protect themselves and the Second Amendment, but I also think there’s reasons to make sure that not everyone has access to a firearm,” Green said.

Referring to his environmental positions, he added, “I do represent a blue-collar part of town, and the jobs at our plants and our industry along the channel is important.”

Iowa and New Hampshire

Green has received the backing of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ fundraising arm and many local elected officials whose districts overlap with his.

The contest between the longtime allies – both known as effective retail politicians – is expected to come down to voter participation in a low-turnout area that is more than 76 percent Hispanic. Higher turnout is thought to benefit Garcia.

“The higher the turnout, the more Hispanics, because they’re really the delta in this, the change,” Aiyer said, noting that participation will be swayed in part by how competitive the Democratic primary is by the time Texans cast their ballots on March 1. “CD29 could be more impacted by what happens in Iowa and New Hampshire than anything.”

Political newcomer Dominique Garcia also is running in the 29th District primary. Early voting begins Feb. 16.

#ColbyJack was number two on the team last season with 67 runs scored.

That is all I have from The Yard.