I don't dislike Frost, but, yes, if he becomes DNC chair, you're right:  our minority status won't be messed with for a long time.

Dean for DNC Chair...if not him, Rosenberg...if not him, we're sunk.

Draft Gray Davis?  Someone is on crack.

Why would we want to follow a LOSER?

I also like the idea of having a two headed dragon as long as they can get along. Frost is interesting because he is sort of a rough and tumble guy.

I say go young and hungry we need energy and outside the box thinking.

"Frost, Sessions both invoke Bush

Each is running ads portraying himself as backing the president

11:29 PM CDT on Tuesday, October 26, 2004

By GROMER JEFFERS JR. / The Dallas Morning News

So who loves President Bush the most?

It's hard to tell if you're watching the TV ads that the candidates are airing in the 32nd Congressional District race.

Both Democrat Martin Frost and Republican Pete Sessions have produced spots that attack the other for being out of touch with the mainstream, while attaching themselves to the president.

 "In the real world, Sessions loves Bush far more," said Southern Methodist University political science professor Cal Jillson. "But in the artificial world, it's not clear."

Mr. Frost - running in a mostly Republican district - is trying to appeal to GOP voters in North Dallas.

Some of his campaign commercials show Mr. Sessions being in opposition to President Bush, while portraying himself as a tough, moderate Democrat.

He uses popular Republicans like Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and John McCain of Arizona to make his point. And one ad even casts fellow Democrat Ted Kennedy in the same liberal boogeyman role as some Republicans do.

In contrast, Mr. Sessions - who is trying to turn out his base Republican vote in North Dallas - has aired ads that portray him as a loyal soldier to the president, while blasting Mr. Frost as a high-spending liberal.

"For Frost, the assumption is that there are moderate voters who aren't aligned with Sessions. He's telling them that he's a moderate- to conservative-leaning Democrat," Mr. Jillson said. "In his ads about Frost's spending, Sessions wants to remind his base what we're really actually talking about."

Mr. Frost and Mr. Sessions are running against each other as a result of newly redrawn congressional lines approved by the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature.

After being drawn out of his 24th District, Mr. Frost chose to run for re-election in the heavily Republican 32nd District now represented by Mr. Sessions.

The 13-term Democrat is making direct appeals to the district's Republican votes in his TV ads.

One commercial features visuals of those who backed the president's plans to beef up air safety and homeland security.

It has snapshots of several prominent Republicans, including Ms. Hutchison, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Mr. McCain.

Mr. Frost is mentioned in the same breath as all the other Republicans in the ad.

"After Sept. 11, President Bush asked Congress to keep America's skies safe from terrorists," the announcer in the ad states. "Five hundred and 10 voted 'Yes' with President Bush. Pete Sessions was one of nine to vote 'No.' "

The ad later states: "Martin Frost. Backing President Bush on Keeping America Safe."

Mr. Frost says the ads are effective.

"There are some fundamental questions about his judgment and whether he would stick by what he said," he said of his opponent. "People expect politicians to shoot straight with them."

Mr. Frost has run another TV ad that shows Mr. Sessions talking about Mr. Kennedy's ordeal with airline security. On several occasions, the Massachusetts senator has been prohibited from boarding a plane because his name appeared on a security watch list.

The ad shows Mr. Sessions describing Mr. Kennedy's problem and saying the system may be "too tight."

"Sessions said 'No' to President Bush on air safety because Ted Kennedy was delayed?" the announcer says. "Protect America. Say 'No' to Pete Sessions."

A response

Mr. Sessions responded to Mr. Frost's air safety ad with one of his own.

In it he says he voted against the safety plan Mr. Bush wanted because it would have led to union guidelines for airport screeners.

"He wanted unionized restrictions on airport screeners," Mr. Sessions said in his ad. "I think they should be air safety professionals with the flexibility to do their jobs."

The commercial shows a picture of Mr. Frost with a red stamp across him that reads "unionized."

Another Sessions commercial that just aired charges that Mr. Frost is the biggest spender in Congress.

The commercial describes Mr. Frost's supporting paid holidays for bureaucrats and $20 million for a steel museum in Pennsylvania.

"So how will Frost pay for it?" the announcer asks. "Perhaps even some tax increases, if necessary," the voice of Mr. Frost adds.

The announcer then says, "Higher taxes and wasteful spending. That's the cost of Martin Frost."

"This is a district that has heavily performed for Republicans in the past," said Chris Homan, a spokesman for Mr. Sessions. "Congressman Frost has consistently voted for higher taxes which hurt the middle class, married couples and senior citizens."

"Pete Sessions is co-sponsor of the largest tax increase in the history of the country with the ridiculous national sales tax idea," said Justin Kitsch, a spokesman for Mr. Frost.

Mr. Sessions co-sponsors a bill that would abolish the Internal Revenue Service and create a national sales tax.

Tactical campaigners

Because Texas is not a swing state, Dallas-area residents have been spared the intense media barrage of the presidential campaign. But the Frost-Sessions matchup is quickly filling the gap.

Political observers say the air war reflects the maneuverings of two tactical campaigners.

"That district swings for Republicans, and you can see Frost trying to pick up some Republican votes," said Dallas political consultant Carol Reed. "And Sessions [is] trying to show that Martin Frost is too liberal for Texas. It's the standard way Republicans run in Texas."

I don't think that should disqualify him, but it is certainly relevant.  Despite his jabs at the campaign aristocracy in that position piece, his resume reads exactly like you'd expect the resume of the son of the DNC chair to read.  Bouncing from one high campaign position to another.  This can be a sign of someone who is great, but it can also be sign of someone who is ambitious and has a powerful patron.  His non-campaign jobs look to me like the kind of sinecures you get when people want to cultivate you (FCC & a tech consultancy.)  

This isn't a background that makes me think he's been tuning his ear to the voice of the average voter.

I wince at the burgeoning aristocracy of our party. Maybe it's just because I live in Chicago, where my Mayor is the son of a Mayor, my governor the son-in-law of a powerful party elder, my attorney general the daughter of the speaker of the house, my state comptroller the son of the former Cook County treasurer and our newest congressman had his seat deeded over to him by his dad.

What a sick political culture!  But if others believe Donnie Fowler can be a great DNC chair based on a closer understanding of what he's done, I admit I don't know him well.