It was a ‘knock and drag’ program
While we’re all still basking in the glow of Ciro’s win. I wanted to link to a couple of really good articles and blogs with good pictures and video.
First up is our local rag. And I thought knock and drag was something LaGirlFriday had made up. Turns out it is a strategy.
AAS article 12/14/06
From hopeful to back in the House
San Antonio turnout was crucial to Rodriguez’s strategy, said Adrian Saenz, Rodriguez’s campaign manager, whom the Democratic congressional committee provided to Rodriguez.Saenz, the committee’s field director, said Rodriguez had 30-plus loyal and knowledgeable supporters helping his campaign when he arrived from Washington after the Nov. 7 vote that generated the runoff.
In the first round, Bonilla carried nearly 49 percent of the vote — shy of the 50-plus percent needed to avoid a runoff. Rodriguez ran second among seven challengers, with 20 percent.
“We had to win this runoff on early and absentee voting,” Saenz said, adding that he focused on marshaling a high-intensity turnout effort starting with an early voting period extended from one weekend to another in response to concern that the election was scheduled on a Catholic feast day. Saenz said Rodriguez’s campaign won the early voting period by treating each day in the stretch like an election day. Workers called and visited voters, telling them they could vote immediately. “It was a ‘knock and drag’ program,” Saenz said, concentrating on South San Antonio but also singling out historically independent voters in GOP-strong northern Bexar County.
Then yesterday’s Congressional Quarterly. This one is a long article but has some good analysis.
Yahoo article 12/13
Rodriguez’s Upset Win in Texas 23 Yields Another Seat for Dems(snip)
Despite the alterations to the district, Rodriguez had to overcome several advantages with which Bonilla entered the abbreviated contest — especially the Republican’s long incumbency and strong name recognition across the 23rd District. Of the nearly 652,000 residents in the reconfigured 23rd, 63 percent came from Bonilla’s old 23rd District and 37 percent from the 28th District Rodriguez once represented.Bonilla also had a huge fundraising advantage over Rodriguez. The DCCC, however, narrowed the gap somewhat by spending at least $900,000 on an “independent expenditure” campaign to attack Bonilla and promote Rodriguez.
(snip)
Rodriguez’s win probably will be brandished by political liberals as evidence that they can prevail in partisan battleground districts. Rodriguez voted against authorizing military operations in Iraq; in favor of a minimum wage increase; and against proposed bans of same-sex marriage and “partial birth” abortion.Rodriguez defeated Bonilla by 56 percent to 44 percent in Bexar County, which includes the district’s portions of San Antonio and where about 65 percent of the district’s vote was cast. Bonilla ran well in some of the district’s vast rural areas, but his margins there could not overcome Rodriguez’s advantages in and around San Antonio. But Rodriguez even narrowly led Bonilla in the areas of the 23rd outside of Bexar.
And finally here are a couple of links to some blogs with good photos and video from the campaign. The Henry Cisneros “Ya vete” speech is linked to the B and B blog and the Walker Report has a wonderful montage of campaign photos. Kudos to both sites for capturing the spirit of the race.
- B and B blog
- Henry C. takes Bonilla to the virtual woodshed - “Ya basta!” Oh and the Big Dog is on that page too.
- The Walker Report blog. Walker Report has enough photos throughout the site to make a nice photo album for Ciro
- The Ciro Rodriguez congressional campaign collage
