A Shot of Courage on BOR

John posted a diary on BOR last night with some thoughts on the reconstituted TX-21:

Certainly the latest redistricting changed the makeup of CD 21. This is great for Austin, giving a favorite son and one of my favorite congressmen, Lloyd Doggett, a well-deserved strong base in Travis. But it is also good for a lot of people in the newly added areas of District 21, because they will now have an opportunity to elect a congressional representative with honesty, integrity, and the courage to stand up for them.

Even though the statistics may indicate a five-point swing in the voting pattern, that means less in today's volatile political landscape.

What really counts is what people on the streets (and on the dirt roads) are thinking and saying. If you get out into the district, out from behind your computer and talk with regular people, you can't help but feel the growing mood of dissatisfaction among the majority of the public over the direction this country is heading in, and the partisan games being played by the Republican leaders in Washington.

What we are doing in this campaign is tapping into that general discontent with the Republican-led Congress and the Bush White House. We have found in our polling that Lamar Smith only has between a 31 and 35% reelect number. For a 20-year incumbent, that is a formula for disaster, and he knows it. A whopping 69% of the voters polled in the district wanted to replace Smith or at least have some better choices this November. That's a wide-open door for our campaign.

We have met and heard from more disaffected Republicans than you would have thought possible, here in what a lot of outsiders still consider Bush Country.

I think we can turn Bush Country into Courage Country. As a Webb supporter diaried on Dkos this morning, the big difference between our candidate and the incumbent, is that John Courage will stand tall and tell the truth.

Now that's a Texas value to be proud of.