Why didn't the National Democratic Party Support Rick Noriega?

photo: Rick Noriega
Cornyn was vulnerable this year. With help from the DNC Noriega would have had a good chance. But $20,000 was like pennies...They must have thought that Texas was a lost cause.

There is another chance in 2010. If the DNC wants Texas back, they need to wake up and support their candidate.

Texas Hispanic Dems Blast National Party for Non-Support

Houston Chronicle

December 11, 2008

Two prominent Hispanic Democratic officials from Texas harshly criticized an arm of their national party today for skipping over the state when it provided funding muscle for U.S. Senate candidates across the country.

State Sens. Mario Gallegos of Houston and Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio objected to the fact that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee collected contributions from Texans — $1.1 million at an event in San Antonio, for instance — without sending any to the campaign of outgoing state legislator Rick Noriega of Houston.

Noriega lost the Senate race in November to Republican incumbent John Cornyn, who raised $10 million during the campaign to $4 million for Noriega, according to federal records.

The Democratic committee's decision to spend the money outside Texas "is shameful and disgraceful, and we will do everything we can to prevent this disrespect from happening again," the two state senators wrote.

"For the face of the U.S. Senate to represent the true face of America, we must all work together to invest in quality candidates such as Rick Noriega, not take a walk when our candidate is not a member of the millionaires' club," they added...more

Noriega and Cornyn- Texas Senate Race

Cornyn, Noriega await results
By KELLEY SHANNON
AP Political Writer
Austin American Statesman
November 4, 2008, 9:06 p.m. Central Time

AUSTIN — Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a heavy favorite and by far the bigger spender in his race, led Democratic long-shot candidate Rick Noriega as election returns streamed in Tuesday night.

Cornyn had 53 percent of the vote over Noriega's 45 percent with 25 percent of precincts reporting. Libertarian Yvonne Schick was a distant third.

All year Noriega, a Houston state legislator and Army National Guard officer who served in Afghanistan, blasted Cornyn's record, accusing him of saying one thing in Texas and doing another in Congress. Noriega looked to pick up support from voters who were fed up with the nation's financial mess and seeking change.

Cornyn, a first-term senator who often sided with President Bush's administration, attempted to cast himself as a commonsense Texan and an outsider to Washington who wasn't satisfied with the direction of the federal government...

Noriega got big-name help in Texas during the final weeks of the race from Bill and Hillary Clinton, who attended campaign rallies with him.

But Cornyn always had the upper hand when it came to money and consistently polled ahead of Noriega. Beginning in September and until Election Day, Cornyn blanketed the television airwaves with ads using the millions of dollars he'd amassed for the race...more

2008 Texas Senate Race

I really can't take sides.  But I have to admit, anyone who helps a DREAMer like Noriega has, is worth voting for.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6050281.html

Cornyn, Noriega focus on economy in Houston debate
By JANET ELLIOTT and JENNIFER LATSON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 9, 2008, 11:34PM

...The Houston debate, aired live on most public television and radio stations in Texas, provided an opportunity for Noriega to take his underfunded, uphill battle against Cornyn directly to viewers.

Noriega could benefit if voters tie the stock market crisis to GOP policies. Even though many voters do not know him, the "D" after his name could work to his advantage.

An executive with Houston's CenterPoint Energy, Noriega has represented a Houston district in the Texas House since 1999. Before going to Washington in 2002, Cornyn, a lawyer, served as Texas attorney general and a justice on the Texas Supreme Court. Schick is an investor who lives in Spicewood.

The candidates also clashed on health policy. Noriega said that since Cornyn has been in office, health premium costs have gone up 80 percent.

"We're number one in the United States in children that are uninsured. That's unacceptable," said Noriega.

Cornyn said Noriega and other Texas lawmakers have failed to reach 800,000 children who are eligible for government programs but have not signed up.

"Let's cover those low-income children who were intended to be covered in the first place," Cornyn said.

On health care, energy
The debate's format, which featured rapid-fire questions on a host of issues, offered little opportunity for the candidates to engage. But afterward, Noriega challenged Cornyn on the reference to children's health insurance, saying that when Republicans took over the Texas House in 2003, changes in a popular program for working families knocked more than 200,000 children out of the program.

Cornyn maintained that even during a national debate over continuing the Children's Health Insurance Program, "I found that we were having a very difficult time signing up people who were already eligible."

Schick said the government needs to get out of the health care business and reduce spending overall. She has supported replacing the federal income tax with a national retail sales tax.

The candidates took a few questions from reporters after the debate.

"Right now, Senator Cornyn has had kind of a deathbed conversion on energy choices, although he's voted I don't know how many times against renewable energy," said Noriega.

Cornyn unveiled a new ad Thursday that shows him with West Texas wind turbines.

"I believe we ought to explore for and produce American energy wherever we find it," Cornyn said. He supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which Noriega opposes.

On immigration, Iraq
On immigration, Cornyn has introduced legislation that would require persons living here illegally to return to their native country before applying for citizenship. Noriega said a "report to deport" program would be unworkable.

"I don't support people being able to stay in place and break ahead of people in line who have waited patiently outside the country for years," Cornyn said.

Noriega aired his first campaign ad Thursday, directly attacking Cornyn as a Washington politician who bailed out special interests but failed Texas families. "I'll be a senator who has your back," Noriega says.

Noriega has served in Afghanistan and along the Texas-Mexico border as an officer in the Texas Army National Guard. He has called for timetables on withdrawing troops from Iraq, and said tax dollars being spent in Iraq would be better used at home. Cornyn has opposed timetables for withdrawal, saying progress is being made.

The two will meet in a final debate next Thursday in Dallas.

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