Posted on 12/13/2003 12:34:12 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
McALLEN — Congressman Lloyd Doggett gained ground in the bid for the congressional District 25 seat with the beginning of a full-fledged campaign here Thursday that includes Spanish-language radio spots.
Doggett, D-Austin, announced at the beginning of his advertising campaign at the home of Dr. Ramiro Casso, a longtime friend of the congressman and a voice in one of the radio spots that urge voters to “go with experience.” Doggett’s campaign push for the new seat — which stretches from western Hidalgo County into Starr County and up into southwest Austin and was approved during the last legislative session — comes on the same day that a federal court in Austin began hearing arguments against redistricting measures.
At the announcement, Doggett said he wants to represent the people of District 25 as a way to continue his work for the people of Texas in the face of a Republican effort to oust him from his Austin seat, he said. “I think there’s some new papers out this morning in the trial at Austin that point to the fact that Republican national leaders, because I have been effective in Washington, set out to destroy me personally in this redistricting case,” Doggett said during the campaign kickoff. “They thought that by joining part of Austin with Las Milpas, that I would be defeated,” he said. “But it’s not going to happen.”
Doggett, who reportedly has about $2 million in his campaign account, wants to show Hidalgo and Starr Counties his commitment to them, he said, and so is kicking off the radio campaign here, as well as spending the month of December in South Texas. “I chose to spend not a few hours here in the Valley in the month of December, but a few weeks, to resume old friendships with Dr. Casso and others, and to make new ones,” he said.
The radio spots, produced this past week, feature Casso in one spot and Doggett’s wife Libby in another speaking to voters in Spanish about Doggett’s commitment to the area. “I’ve often said that the way to know if people will support you in the future is if they’ve been with you in the past,” Casso says in his spot. “I’ve known Lloyd Doggett for many years.” “We need your help to better our communities,” Libby Doggett says in her spot. Television spots are expected to be released in January, the Congressman said. Doggett, who announced his intention to run for the District 25 seat in October but has yet to file for candidacy, is the first to begin a major campaign for the new spot.
State Rep. Kino Flores, D-Mission, had announced he would run for the spot, but withdrew from the race in November, citing funding problems. Local Democratic leaders have said they would financially back 139th state District Court Judge Leticia Hinojosa if she made a run for the District 25 seat.
Republican Regner Capener of Mission has said he will also run for the seat.
The primary is March 9. ———
Juan Ozuna covers Edinburg and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at 683-4437.
Spend that money, Lloyd.
How hard up does a politician have to be to accept appointment as Ambassador to Burundi rather than get a job?
So9
"How hard up does a politician have to be to accept appointment as Ambassador to Burundi rather than get a job?"
That was Krueger not Dogget.
Right. Maybe I'm getting senile. I seem to have trouble keeping low rent democrats distinct anymore
So9
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