Is Wendy Trying To Run Away From The National Party ?

(This caricature of Wendy Davis is by the inimitable DonkeyHotey.)

Texas Democrats held their state convention about a week ago (June 27th and 28th). If you were there, as I was, or even if you just followed the proceedings through some form of media, you may have noticed a rather strange thing -- there were no national Democrats there to speak. Is the national party abandoning Texas Democrats?

No. The national party has sent money and volunteers to help register new voters, and they were willing to send any nationally known Democrats down to help. We learn now that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Vice-President Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton (front-runner for the 2016 presidential nomination) were all in discussions with the state party to appear at the convention. So why weren't they there? It turns out that the Wendy Davis campaign put a stop to that. They didn't want Gillibrand, Biden, or Clinton to appear at the convention.

Some may think that Davis stopped the appearance of nationally-known Democrats because she was afraid they would overshadow her candidacy. I doubt that. Wendy was the star of the convention, and that would have been true even if someone as famous as Hillary Clinton had come. In fact, appearing on the same stage as Clinton, Biden, or Gillibrand would have heightened the stature of Wendy Davis -- and it would have significantly increased the amount of media coverage for the convention (and therefore for Wendy herself).

No, I'm afraid the Davis campaign's refusal to let any national Democrats appear at the convention was due to a much more troubling reason. Wendy (or at least her campaign handlers) are afraid that by standing on the same stage as national Democrats, she would be tied much closer to the national party and the progressive values represented by that national party. And Wendy seems to be trying very hard to distance herself from the national party and the values it represents.

Wendy (or her handlers) have evidently learned nothing from the string of losing Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidates in the last 20 years -- all of whom tried to run away from the national party (and position themselves as conservatives, sort of "Republican-Lites"). By trying to position herself as a slightly more moderate conservative than the Republican candidate, Wendy is (in my opinion) traveling down that same road to defeat.

While Wendy's campaign seems to think Texas is a conservative state (and won't vote for anyone not a conservative), I think that's wrong. Texas is really a non-voting state. Only about 32% of registered voters have bothered to show up at the polls and vote in the last 20 years -- and if that's all that votes again this year, then the best Democrats could hope for is about 45% of the vote. Trying to get a majority of that 32% is a losing strategy. To win, Democrats must convince a good portion of that other 68% of registered voters that there is a good reason for them to vote -- that they have a real choice (and not just a choice between two conservatives).

Running away from the ideas, personalities, and values of the national Democratic Party is a big mistake. It just tells that non-voting 68% that they are right -- that there is little difference between the two candidates for governor (and might as well stay home).

I still support Wendy, and will vote for her. But her campaign actions since being nominated are troubling to me. I'm afraid she's fallen for the same fallacy as her losing predecessors -- that Democrats must abandon their progressive values to be elected in Texas.