Bosquez To Run Against Swinford

There is little doubt that the Texas Panhandle is now the reddest part of the state. There are three House Districts in the Panhandle, and a Democrat has not won one of the seats since 1994. That was Warren Chisum, who immediately changed his party affiliation to Republican after winning the seat (thereby increasing the IQ level of both parties).

The three seats are currently held by Republicans David Swinford, John Smithee and Warren Chisum. None of them has even had a Democratic opponent since 2002, when Swinford defeated Jesse Quackenbush. It looks like at least that may change for one of the districts next year.

At the Amarillo Central Labor Council's Labor Day Picnic today, Potter County Democratic chairman Abel Bosquez (pictured) will announce that he will be a Democratic candidate for House District 87. Since he is the only candidate for the position in the Democratic primary, that will pit him against David Swinford in the general election.

Bosquez says he'll make education, jobs and health care his main campaign issues. He realizes that the odds are against his winning the seat, but says, "I think I can because the tide is changing. I think I can get a lot of votes because there are a lot of people here who don't vote because they don't think their vote counts. Those are the people who will help me win this race."

I give Bosquez credit for running. The Democrats should be running candidates in all three of the races. And he may be right about large numbers of people not voting. But my question is who is going to get these voters to the polls?

Bosquez might stand a chance if he had done a better job in organizing the Democratic Party in Potter County. But it is far from organized. Half of the county's precincts don't even have a precinct chairman. How do you turn out votes in precincts without organization and leadership in those precincts?

I hate to be the voice of doom, but Bosquez looks like little more than a sacrificial lamb to me. Even so, I will vote for him and try to support him in my own precinct.