855pm -  HoDe is in the house! He's on a bus tour that began in Crawford and will continue to Louisiana and Mississippi next. He made a point to mention how nice Crawford is a nice town full of warm people - eager for a change. He made a little joke about how it was nice before Bush and will still be nice afterwards and we're eagerly awaiting for Bush and Cheney's retirement. He gives Rick Noriega a shout out as well. The speech is rather muted and feels lacking in urgency however. 

He brings it around to Obama and what an Obama win will mean, but definitely talks about how WE have to put in work. He mentions how vital the NetRoots have been in helping secure more elected Democrats to the House of Representatives. He gets fired up - as well as the audience - when he talks about the 5 seats up for grabs in the Texas House of Representatives that will likely go to the Democrats. 

The Texas general election contest between Clinton and Obama inspired so many people to get involved and register that the number of voters in 2008 outnumbered the 2004 general election in its entirety. [Don't count out an activist base of Black voters]. He talks about the younger voters coming up and people preparing to run for office in the next 2-3 years for Congress to City Council. The DNC has the most extensive voter list in the party's history and he promises that list will be available and not hoarded. [Let's hope everyone gets that memo]. 

He says the country needs healing and to hold a higher standard in dealing with enemies. he wants Guantanamo to be shut down. He mentions support for GLBT issues. It's the time for new politics and he says Obama will lead the United States back to a time of possessing moral authority.

I am a little distracted by the table commentary flying back and forth referring the impossibly high standards Obama is being held to even as some are still concerned how much Obama will actually do to improve the lives of Black people. Someone throws out a reference to Tony Dungy - ooooo! 

A good offense is the best defense.