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As a fellow for News 21, a journalism initiative funded by the Carnegie and Knight foundations, I had been reporting on campaign stories throughout the Southwest, particularly on swing states and battleground areas. Texas is not considered a swing state in the presidential election, but a few months ago, I found some poll data on state-level races that seemed awfully close for what would usually be solid Republican areas. Since I’m originally from California, it was a big surprise for me to learn that the Texas Democrats only need 5 seats to win control of the house of representatives in a typically red state.
So I set out for Texas with the goal of seeing whether solid single- party areas were really up for grabs, and finding the reason behind these shifts. I went to Austin during the state Democratic convention, where I was told there hadn’t been that many attendees with such high energy in a very long time. Outside of Austin in the typically Republican Williamson County, I spoke to voters of various political affiliations, teachers, candidates running for local and state positions, representatives from state and local GOP offices, and members of the local media. In Hutto, Round Rock, and Taylor, I found people with conservative values - some who told me they would never sway from the Republican Party line, and others who had grown frustrated with existing problems in housing, education or the economy, who were determined to vote Democratic this time around.
John McCain will most likely win the lonestar state in November, but I learned that beneath the surface, with such changing demographics and fast-growing suburbs, there might be some legitimate challenges to the Texas legislature long held by Republicans.
I’m very grateful to all the people I interviewed, and all the Texans who welcomed me so warmly to your state. It was exciting to see so many people passionate about civic involvement and working for their communities, and I’m honored to share this piece with you through KLRU. I also couldn’t have produced this without the help of my classmate David Chong, and the guidance of the faculty at the University of Southern California, where I was a graduate student in broadcast journalism. Thanks to Marc Cooper, Pat Dean, and Willa Seidenberg!
-Natasha
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One of the top issues for Democrat Diana Maldonado is a Lemon Law for homes that would force builders to buy-back homes with serious defects if they are unable to fix them. Sandy Bradshaw, a frustrated homeowner stuck with a defective home in Hutto, needs just such a law since she’s been unable to get any help from the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC), a State agency that does more to shield builders from lawsuits than to protect homeowners. Visit http://www.HomeownersOfTexas.org to hear about what we’re doing to help people like Sandy.
Comment by Wayne Caswell 10.18.08 @ 4:53 pmI really enjoyed this docublog. Great job Natasha.
I would like to ditto comment by Wayne and also suggest people look at Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings and Homeowners For better Building when it comes to defective houses. It should also be stated just because the Dems. may get in do not think your chances of change will occur when it comes to bad houses. First, it is a Democrat state representative who files the bills on behalf of builders; he owns a lumber company. Secondly sevral Democrats vote against any consumer protection laws. Third- another democrat who sits on the State Affairs and Sunset Commission although a victim of a contractor herself has decided we need TRCC. That may or may not have anything to do with all the money she received from the homebuilders. Nothing surprises me whe it comes to politicans anymore.
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