Chris Bell News

Corked Bats has this post, Chris Bell speaks at YDA(Young Democrats of America) Convention

First, Chris Bell's message was clear from the beginning of his speech. He will be an "Education Governor," one who offered a strong vision for what his ideal Texas would look like. He made a committment to making Texas schools the best in the nation. And I'm particularly persuaded by the strategy of using this sort of message. Specific goal-setting was one way of speaking drastically missing from the Kerry/Edwards campaign, and I think it hurt them. Talking about poverty or health care or education in abstract "I want to reduce/increase it" terms is a significnatly less effective way of speaking than "I will cut poverty in half/I will create 50,000 new jobs/I will make Texas schools the best in the nation."

And he has a bright, fresh approach to education, framing it as an economic issue as well. A solid move for an economy debate that is dominated by tax policy. And in the tradition of Lakoff, after offering a new frame and metaphor, he also got into the nitty-gritty about education policy and advocated a strongly localized approach. A few choice quotes from his speech below.

"Let's raise teacher pay, get out of the way, and let them teach."

"Tests don't make you smarter, just like rulers don't make you taller."

"Jesus didn't need a poll-tested focus group to kick the money-changers out of the temple, and David didn't need third-party surrogates to take down Goliath."

"How can we call ourselves progressive if we fail to offer progress?"

A very good speech filled with excellent framing techniques--I am officially sold!

Oh, and on a side note I met a bunch of Dallas County Young Dems. They're good people.

His entering the governors race gets mentioned in the Washington Post, In Texas, They Can Transmute Barbecue Into Campaign Gold:

Races Hatching II: Bell vs. Perry

Speaking of DeLay, his former colleague ex-representative Chris Bell (D-Tex.) is planning to run next year for governor of Texas. Bell broke an unwritten truce last year between the two parties when he filed an ethics complaint against DeLay. Bell, a freshman who earlier that year had been redistricted out of his seat -- thanks to partisan maneuvering directed by DeLay -- is the first major Democrat to indicate he will challenge Gov. Rick Perry (R).