Mother Jones‘ Andy Kroll has a long, informative article on Julián and Joaquin Castro in the National Journal. Near the end:
… THIS PAST SPRING, President Obama and Mayor Castro were featured speakers at the LBJ Presidential Library’s 50th anniversary celebration in Austin… This time, the offer was to run HUD—a department closer to Julián’s heart, given his urban-development efforts in San Antonio. The brothers also understood perfectly well that there was no chance that the mayor of San Antonio would be tapped as vice president. But a young Latino Cabinet member with Clinton-style moderate politics and a ton of great press? Maybe…
When he took the job… it was a sure sign that the Castro brothers had decided that Texas wouldn’t be competitive for Democrats anytime soon. It also appeared to be a bet that Julián’s presence in Washington, and his new role, would make him more appealing to Hillary Clinton if she became the Democratic nominee…
While Julián thinks nationally, his brother’s mind keeps drifting back to Texas. In December, Joaquin Castro and I sat at the top of the 750-foot-high Tower of the Americas, gazing out on San Antonio, chatting about the brothers’ past and possible futures, Texas politics, and the 2016 presidential race. (Joaquin ranks Mike Huckabee as the most natural politician of the potential GOP field, saying he could “walk away” with the nomination “if he wasn’t so odd.”)… Over soup, salad, and iced tea—both brothers’ drink of choice—Joaquin talked enthusiastically about his new project to resuscitate Texas Democrats.
“I’m always thinking about politics,” he says. “What is going on here? What’s missing here?” In Texas, what’s missing is pretty obvious on one level: Democratic voters. Despite the advent of Battleground Texas, a well-funded effort led by former Obama campaign brass designed to register and turn out new voters, Joaquin says there’s only one way to view the 2014 election: “We got our ass kicked.” The party’s situation just keeps growing more dire, he says; between 2008 and 2012, Republicans went from occupying 2,400 local elected offices in Texas to owning 3,400. “We never learned how to come back,” he says. “We still haven’t figured out the formula in Texas.”…
His road map for Texas Democrats is still in the early stages, but if he had to put a price tag on it, he’d estimate upwards of $50 million. Joaquin had meetings scheduled in January with potential donors in hopes of getting things rolling. (He would not say who those funders might be.) When I ask how he’s planning to run a Democratic-renewal project in Texas while working 12-hour days in Congress, raising his young daughter, and comanaging his brother’s political future, he admits that he sometimes thinks fondly about leaving his minority caucus in Congress. “Some of the things I want to do and be involved with in bringing Texas along, it would be easier not to be an elected official,” he says. “Specifically, not to be a congressman.”
He knows, of course, that nothing would benefit his Texas project like a brother on the national Democratic ticket; that would make raising $50 million a snap. “If he ascends, that helps me too,” Joaquin says. It works both ways, of course: If Joaquin makes any notable headway with his Texas project over the next year and a half, the prospect of putting a Texan on the Democratic ballot would make more strategic sense for the party’s presidential nominee.
While the brothers still harbor blue-sky ambitions, they’re also realists. They know that in the likely event Julián doesn’t get the VP nod, their political path forward suddenly vanishes, at least unless Texas someday becomes competitive again. “Sure, I’ve thought about it,” Julián says of having nowhere to go when his HUD appointment expires. “It’s very possible. I’ve thought about going back to Texas and writing, and perhaps practicing law.” He’s also open, he says, to “sticking around somewhere in the Cabinet” if Clinton, or another Democrat, becomes the next president. “Most days, I’m excited about public service, but there’s some days, like in any profession—there’s the down days when I think about just going back home and having more freedom, you know? So we’ll see what happens. The good thing is, I’m gonna be 42 when that day comes. Still a lot of time left.”…
I’m particularly interested in hearing what the Texans among us think of this article — and of the Castro brothers?
Amir Khalid
Just curious: is the name Julian pronounced the English way, or the Spanish way?
rikyrah
Not a Texan, but I have hopes for the Castro brothers.
Not really getting why Democratic Party donors don’t see the benefits of investing in their project
BobTX
Years long reader from Texas who hasn’t ever commented (that I remember). I lived in SA for a long time. I think the Castro brothers are quite sharp. Hillary would have trouble picking someone better in terms of choosing a VP for the future of the party. I also think that if Julian was on the ticket it might drastically change the politics of Texas. Right now, Republicans fully own the state, but there is a growing mass of up until now very low participation voters who would likely lean heavily democratic if they felt like they had enough skin in the game to participate. Everyone has talked for years about when that might finally come to pass. I wouldn’t say he’d deliver the state for Hillary necessarily as a VP, but he’d help a ton to balance some of her clear weaknesses, and it might start things in motion here in TX.
I usually am known as a cynic on this kind of thing (thought it was incredibly clear that the potential of Wendy Davis was ridiculously over-hyped), but I think that there’s more than just hope behind people’s talk of what could come relatively soon as Texas’ demographics keep turning – and Castro elevated to the national ticket might really move that along.
Mandalay
Two sentences from you, and seven paragraphs of the content you lifted? You really are shameless.
beth
Also O/T but CNN has Don Lemon driving around NYC in a car. The chyron says “Live Blizzardmobile”. Really I am not making this up.
Anabasis
With all of the new diversity in Texas, it should be pretty easy for Democrats to win elections!
jl
TPM reports that HRC camp already floated veep possibilities to Mike Allen of Politico . I see Castro on the list.
I am not savvy enough to know whether this is for real, or some kind of exploratory testing of the breeze by some HRC people, or patronizing Allen. Or whether it is total BS to get Allen off their back. Or come combination.
Hillary’s Veep Options Already Being Floated To Politico
‘ Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) were portrayed as early frontrunners. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, Labor Secretary Tom Perez and California Attorney General Kamala Harris were also name-checked. ‘
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hillary-2016-vice-president-options-politico
jl
@beth: I am concerned that the CNN people might hurt themselves by going outside and trying to figure out some kind of reality based thing during a storm.
max
If Joaquin makes any notable headway with his Texas project over the next year and a half, the prospect of putting a Texan on the Democratic ballot would make more strategic sense for the party’s presidential nominee.
Hope springs eternal – he won’t make much headway yet, so if anything it’s the other way around. He needs a Castro on the ticket to make any headway in Texas. (That is what it is going to take.)
They know that in the likely event Julián doesn’t get the VP nod, their political path forward suddenly vanishes, at least unless Texas someday becomes competitive again.
They’re going to have to be bloody patient. There will come a point when things start shifting blue quickly in Texas, but it isn’t there yet. It’s 2020 or 2024.
The good thing is, I’m gonna be 42 when that day comes. Still a lot of time left.”…
Quite. In politics, about 40 years, assuming they can stick around.
I’m particularly interested in hearing what the Texans among us think of this article — and of the Castro brothers?
Well, the brothers seem nice enough but when people talk about Rubio or the Castro brothers, they seem to be like, ‘Oooo, look at the cute boys on the cover of Tiger Beat this week!’ I’m not seeing the JFK potential everyone is (always) looking for.
{shrugs} When the votes are there, the politicians will be there. If not these guys, somebody else.
max
[‘I will celebrate by buying this 21 quart tamale steamer, so there’s that.’]
Hildebrand
The biggest problem in Deep South Texas is that people simply see no value in voting. They see the politicians from the Valley work very hard to make sure that they get themselves re-elected, dole out favors to their families, flip parties if it suits their immediate political fortunes, and generally act like old-time patronage hacks, and realize that voting just isn’t worth a damn. We had record turn-out in Hidalgo County (McAllen, Mission, Edinburg, Pharr, San Juan) in 2012 – we hit all of 48%. Turn-out for 2014? 26%
Mike J
@rikyrah:
They were on at the convention.
JPL
@efgoldman: ha.. take care. I guess you will definitely get lots of snow and the only question left is NYC. You will need that yard stick.
TR
@Mandalay:
I completely agree. I want the money I paid for reading this back.
Frosty
@Amir Khalid:
Hoo-lee-ann
They are a force and Texas can be blue if we continue to register voters, give them a reason to vote (i.e. policy) and recruit good candidates.
Too many were weak and light on resume.
Kent
Texan here. Not a native (I’m from the Northwest) but I followed my wife’s career here in 2003 so been here long enough to get the lay of the land and to have watched a lot of moderate white Democrats get chipped away one by one until the Democratic party is basically only an urban party in the major cities and a black and Hispanic party elsewhere. Texas seems to be turning into Mississippi in that outside of the urban areas voting is mostly along racial and ethnic lines. Although I don’t even think it is as much a racial thing as a tribal thing. Here in Waco we recently had an immensely qualified Democratic county clerk (a white woman) get beat by an uneducated 20-something “bro” type white guy with a criminal record. Why? Because so many old Republican voters just vote straight party ticket without even looking at the ballot. It has become nearly impossible for Democrats to win local seats because of that. Too few people do the research to understand the candidates in the minor offices at the local level so the just vote straight party ticket.
As for the Castros. I frankly follow politics fairly closely and they really aren’t very much on the radar for me living 3 hours north of San Antonio. That might just be because I mostly read national political blogs and the local news coverage never covers them for any reason. But if I don’t really know that much about them then I suspect barely anyone outside of San Antonio does unless they are a party insider or something. Politics in this state is on a DFW – Houston – Austin axis and frankly San Antonio is just outside the mainstream even though it is larger than Austin.
Mandalay
@TR:
In other words, your position is FYIGM.
You would feel differently if it was your site the piece was lifted from, or you wrote the article that was lifted.
TR
@Mandalay:
No, I wouldn’t.
I’ve written about three dozen articles and op-eds in my career. I don’t get royalties from the original source based on hits, I get a flat fee. And I know any additional links merely puts more eyeballs on my work, which is what I want.
As for the National Journal, this site reproduced about 10%-15% of the original content, well within standard fair use guidelines; provided a mention of the original source for proper attribution, as well as a direct link to the site to drive up their traffic.
I actually know what I’m talking about here. But maybe someone else is deeply impressed with your chest puffing.
Corner Stone
@Mandalay: There’s a solid link you bitch ass punk. STFU, whinebag.
Corner Stone
@BobTX:
Nope. Sorry but that is years away. Hispanics may become a very large potential voting block in years to come. BUT, they have to get to the polls. Tell LVDP about it, next go round.
srv
San Antonio just does not rank in Texas. For that matter, urban Houston and DFW do not either.
TX is hostage to the suburbs and exurbs filled with non-natives who vomited into the state in the late 70’s/early 80’s. Their kids are in their 30’s and I just don’t know where they are going to end up regardless of how many gay friends they have.
As for the Latinos, they aren’t the Democrats you hoped for:
The Castros just don’t matter in the state, let alone nationally.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
This is Cole bait so well get pics of the critters; I know it is. Thanks AL.
Corner Stone
@beth:
MSNBC has been doing this same kind of nonsense all night.
Just stop it, people.
shortstop
Perhaps Anne Laurie could do something to make this less like shameless lifting — maybe she could lead with the author’s name and an obvious link to the full piece. Or, if she’s trying to encourage people to read in-depth pieces, she could maybe start a series and call it something like “Lengthy Stuff Worth Your Time.” No, that’s not it. Maybe something shorter and snappier, a couple of single-syllable words. Yeah.
Corner Stone
@jl: HRC isn’t taking TX in 2016, no matter if Chavez is her Veep.
It just doesn’t matter yet. No one can get them to the polls.
Corner Stone
@max:
2024 is the most likely target. 2020 is the absolute earliest. The best possible case. Which I doubt.
Mandalay
@TR:
You just demonstrated that you don’t.
burnspbesq
@Corner Stone:
Well, then, where did the data that underlie the expert testimony in the SB 14 case come from? I remember reading estimates of the number of disenfranchised at over 600K.
Marc
@jl: Way too many swing-state senators on that list.
Hildebrand
@Corner Stone: Right – because they have been used for so long that they have given up on all politicians. In Deep South Texas, our state and national congressional delegations are utterly useless, and the local politicians are simply small-time grifters. This is going to take something more than just a strategy to rectify. Until that happens, the goobers up north will continue to help the Republicans win every statewide election.
srv
@Hildebrand: We could use a man like LBJ again.
Violet
Texas is a one party state. Used to be Democratic. Went Republican in the Reagan Revolution election. At some point it’ll go back.
State is ridiculously gerrymandered so Republicans get the most votes possible.
Castro brothers are young and good looking. One of them could be picked as VP, but they seem young and inexperienced. Romney picked a Congressman (Ryan) and people thought he didn’t have enough experience. I don’t see a Cabinet member being seen as more experienced, even if he was the mayor of a large city.
Not sure what their path is forward. It’s going to take a lot of work to get people voting Democratic in Texas.
Corner Stone
@burnspbesq:
Friend. Let me tell you something. I spent more hours arguing on this in TX than you can possibly imagine.
The Hispanic vote simply doesn’t show up yet. In years to come the sheer volume may become weighty, or it may not. But for the next almost 10 years I am pretty confident to say that TX will not muster a significant enough Latino voice/vote to turn purplish-blue.
Mandalay
@Corner Stone:
Whether a link is posted is completely irrelevant. You really shouldn’t post when you are completely ignorant about a subject. But I guess that would mean you’d never post anything.
Stay classy.
Hildebrand
@srv: I would gladly take another Ann Richards, as well.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mandalay: In your expert opinion, how much of the article could AL have posted without violating fair use? And, If you don’t mind, could you tell us how you came to that opinion? Thanks in advance.
Corner Stone
@Mandalay: Hey, friend. I’m pretty sure I can speak to Fair Use at least as well as you.
You just seem like a pedantic douchebag.
Maybe I’m wrong?
Gretchen
@Amir Khalid: Julian was on The Daily Show just now, and was introduced with the Spanish pronunciation. I was disappointed in his performance. I’ve heard a lot about how sharp he is, and Stewart got him tangled up trying to explain why the FHA loans he was promoting are different from the loans that crashed the economy, and sounding like there’s not enough capital behind it. Steward isn’t a tough financial interviewer, so I was surprised.
Mandalay
@Corner Stone:
Yes, you are.
mattH
@max:
Pupusas are where it’s at. El Salvadoran, but still, damn tasty.
Tree With Water
@BobTX: I doubt another Texan will be on a democratic national ticket ever again, barring a scenario in which a legitimate shot at winning the state’s electoral votes are in play. Hell, at this point Texas is lucky decent Americans deign to associate with it at all. Given the catastrophes Texans have unleashed upon America and the planet during my lifetime alone, I don’t think the politically blighted politicos of that state have any business near the apparatus of a government established to promote the general welfare of all Americans.
Corner Stone
@Mandalay: No, I’m not wrong that you are one sorry ass pedantic motherfucker. Did you even bother to click the link provided and read the source article?
Probably not. Your tiny little panties probably bunched so hard you couldn’t take it.
“Wahh! Someone used a source article and cited it appropriately! Wahhh!!”
mai naem
I’m wondering about this Mike Allen list of possible HRC veeps that was provided by the HRC people. Tim Kain? really? One of the first major Obama supporters. I don’t see Bill allowing that. The Clintons hold grudges too long to be picking Tim Kain. Pretty sure Bennett was an Obama guy too. And, Cory Booker, good lord. No, please, no! Tom Perez, probably too liberal for HRC. Too pro-labor. I don’t see it happening but I would love to see John Hickenlooper. Also too, I think it would sink the ticket because of the NRA and the ammosexuals.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Mandalay:
Care to explain why he’s wrong? I’m genuinely curious.
Gretchen
@Mandalay: So you are not able to answer Omnes Omnibus’ very reasonable question?
Shalimar
@Mandalay: He wasn’t wrong. He is also much more creative with insults than you are, so you might want to back away from this fight.
Also, you saw Corner Stone’s post, so obviously you saw the questions Omnes posted right before that. How about answering them?
Cervantes
@TR:
For what it’s worth, here’s how I responded the last time this accusation was made against this blogger.
shortstop
@Shalimar: Mandy’s got a long history of selective reading.
Shalimar
@mai naem: The NRA has such inordinate power because the small minority who care about guns really really really love guns above even breathing. Most people don’t particularly like guns but don’t dislike them enough to vote based on that one issue. I doubt it would be beneficial to the NRA to turn a high-turnout election, like say president of the US, into a national referendum on guns for every insane asshole who wants one, or twenty.
Shalimar
@shortstop: I see. He’s like a 4th grader, “I know you are but what am I”, then stomp off the playground in a huff.
Cervantes
@mai naem:
You may be right. Here’s what I know: Kaine has been “Ready for Hillary” for nearly a year now, campaigning for her in English and in Spanish. He and Bill Clinton made joint campaign appearances for Obama in 2012.
srv
@Cervantes: 27% of my comments are original, the remainder are abstracted from a DougJ+BoB bot I wrote.
Cervantes
@srv:
A veritable kaleidoscope, you are!
Omnes Omnibus
@Cervantes: If s/he wrote the bot, are not its contributions, at least arguably, the result of his/her work?
mai naem mobile
@Cervantes: I didnt know any of that. I guess Terry Mac taking over his old job might have brought Clinton closer to Kaine. I hope you’re right because I like Kaine. He comes across as a thoroughly decent person. Not sure I want to give up a Va senate seat though.
Cervantes
@Omnes Omnibus:
Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to argue otherwise.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cervantes: Who would?
SRW1
@srv:
Where can I download that bot?
Omnes Omnibus
@SRW1: Dude, you gotta know that it’s a trojan.
SRW1
@Omnes Omnibus:
Really? It seems to be quite productive, if srv is to be believed. Then again, there’s that 27% number.
Omnes Omnibus
@SRW1:
Aye, there’s the rub.
SRW1
.
I have a hunch s/he might take that as a compliment.
Kay (not the front-pager)
@Omnes Omnibus: Hey hey! Mandalay is familiar with all internet traditions! You can’t ask him/her a question like that. \snark
Cervantes
@mai naem mobile:
Hadn’t meant to suggest that Clinton is likely or unlikely to select Kaine.
Re his seat: in 2016 the Democrats may win the Senate back without it but, on the other hand, it is Virginia and in some eyes that may be a prize in itself, overall numbers aside.
Turgidson
@Violet:
I think it was more that people thought Paul Ryan was a miserable piece of shit than concern over his qualifications.
Tokyokie
@Hildebrand: I think that’s a good analysis of Democrats’ problems getting Hispanic voters to the polls, and I was hoping that Leticia Van de Putte as the lieutenant governor candidate (I found her more impressive than Wendy Davis, and I live in Davis’ old City Council district) might change that. (Van de Putte is staying in the game and running for mayor of San Antonio.) And other than actually getting voters to the polls, black politicians like John Wiley Price are not a whole lot better than the girfters down in the Valley.
Unfortunately, Texas has become the logical result of the 30-year GOP campaign that Reagan got rolling of running against the government that the politicians are seeking to join. Because the notion that government serves no legitimate function has become hardwired among Republicans, the GOP pols see it as nothing more than a framework for delivering state treasury funds to their cronies. Yes, that’s some of that among all Republicans, but I see a big difference between voting the interests of the Koch brothers and literally handing over state assets to campaign supporters, as Goodhair Perry did with Cintra’s 50-year sweetheart lease of freeways across the state.
The Republican Party in Texas has degenerated into little more than a criminal organization. Perry, a man who never held a job outside government, left office as a multimillionaire and is the most astoundingly crooked politician I have ever followed. (I don’t think his Republican predecessors like George W. Bush and Bill Clements were crooked so much as they were assholes.) Newly elected Gov. Greg Abbott seems to have little agenda other than becoming the conductor of the gravy train Perry was operating. Newly elected Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is so nakedly self-interested and untrustworthy that he makes Ted Cruz seem positively diplomatic by comparison, and a lot of seasoned GOP pols are wary of him. And newly elected Attorney General Ken Paxton is under investigation for securities fraud.
The problem, as has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, is that outside the urban areas of Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio (gerrymandering has so splintered Austin that its significance as a liberal bastion has been greatly diminished), the white population tribally votes Republican, even if it means putting some of the most crooked bastards since Boss Tweed into power. And between gerrymandering and voting restrictions, the GOP will be very difficult to dislodge. It’s going to take a generation of Latino politicians who can see the big picture — and that could well be the Castros, but then, 20 years ago, I thought it’d be Henry Cisneros — as well as a widening realization of just how corrupt the Texas GOP has become (which will probably take a high-profile federal corruption indictment) for that to change.
Starfish
@jl: Michael Bennet would be a silly choice because Colorado is such a purple state. The other Senator from Colorado is Cory Gardener (R) who just beat out Mark Udall (D).
I guess Governor Hickenlooper (D) would appoint the replacement for Bennet, but wouldn’t that make Gardener the senior Senator from the state?
TR
@Mandalay:
Wow, what a devastating rebuttal. Next time, go with “I know you are, but what am I?”
RaflW
@Tree With Water: I was and remain a fan of Texas secession. I don’t know if the new dork-ass governor is going to threaten it, but I was 111% behind the previous dork-butt’s urge to sever. Buh-bye now!
ralphb
@Tokyokie: That’s the best analysis of Texas politics I’ve read in a very long time and dead on!
Another Holocene Human
@srv:
Non-native from similarly shit-kicking states like Oklahoma (oil ran out in OK before TX), Kansas, and Missouri. Get it right.
Another Holocene Human
@Tokyokie: From what everyone is saying, it sounds like the problems in Texas go down to the grass roots. Likely like most Confederate states the state gov’t dictates local gov’t structure that is prone to corruption and lacks the power to really control the destiny of the town or region (because the state pols want all the kickbacks to flow to them).
What they need is something radical. More democracy. More democracy to forge better pols, because when you have a system like Texas where there’s no ability to really make life better but there is pay and perqs and stuff, you get the grifters. It’s a feature, not a bug. And the grifters are entrenched.
You need more democracy. What it sounds like could work is an anti-corruption movement. Keep the party out of it, PACs, labor organizers and community organizers could do this. Start on the local level. Push for devolution, putting more power, such as land-use decisions, directly in the hands of citizens. If the movement builds steam then the party can ride it on the next level which is running for state office. You have to build that local farm team. The party can’t fix corruption and shit like that, it’s not set up for it, but it can promise to fight the GOP, that’s what they’re good for.
This should be doable in the heavily Hispanic part of Texas because there is a critical mass of Latino voters and a Spanish language press. This is how the GOP got their power in the Anglo parts of Texas. Conservative radio, conservative newspapers, cable news, Facebook–all of these channels to put their message out there. By the way they appeal to similar memes, we’re fighting the corruption, the stealing of your tax dollars, yadda yadda.
I guess the trick would be like in Georgia where you have local potentates who use violence to keep their power or legal harassment or literally using the justice system to harass political rivals. AL and MS too. Pigs in shit. I’m sure the same happens in TX.
If they can do it in Georgia, they can do it in Texas. If they can do it in St Pete (FL), they can do it in the Valley.
pluky
@Amir Khalid: Just saw him last night on The Daily Show — Spanish pronunciation it is: Hu-Lee-An, accent on the Hu.
KA
If Hispanics (33% of the Texas population) voted, Texas would be blue. Its that simple.