Chris Bell's Got Some Company

Rep. Pete Gallego joins the Chris Bell campaign, Why I'm Endorsing Chris Bell:

My name is Pete Gallego. For those of you out there who don’t know me, I’m the Democratic state representative from the most beautiful part of Texas, Big Bend, but today I have the honor of telling the readers of the New Mainstream Blog that I have agreed to serve as the chairman for the gubernatorial campaign for my friend, Chris Bell. His campaign is putting out a press release tomorrow, but Chris wanted me to tell you about it today.

Chris and I have been friends for a long time, but I’m not backing his campaign just because we’re friends. I’m endorsing Chris for governor and plan to campaign hard for him because he "gets it." He understands what the world is like and where he wants to lead the state, and he’s fearless when it comes to talking about the world the way it is and not the way it polls.

His fearlessness goes further than his ethics fight with Tom DeLay. When he was on the Houston City Council, he helped pass the city's first property tax rate cut and wrote one of the farthest-reaching ethics reform laws for any American city.

Chris Bell also understands that the liberal and conservative labels don’t apply as well to someone who concentrates on solving problems. Like he says, he has no desire to spend the rest of his adult life stuck in a partisan ditch, never risking a move toward common ground.

I’m excited for everyone to hear what he has to say about solving the problems that Texas faces. Chris has always been the kind of leader who could appeal to both sides without abandoning his core ideals. He’s been telling me about the big ideas he wants to talk about during the campaign, I can tell you that not only are rank & file Democrats going to stand up and cheer, but Republicans are going to have an impossible time trying to marginalize him.

I think that’s the real point behind his New Mainstream ethos. We all have Republican and independent friends who tell us how worried they are that the cynical partisans who run the Republican Party are ignoring reality and putting politics before policy. There are more and more people pushed out of the Republican tent, and whether we are Republicans or Democrats, we are wondering when politicians are going to see the world like we do. We are the New Mainstream, and Chris gets it.

These are a few of the reasons I am proud to endorse Chris Bell for Governor, and what I’m asking you to do right now is free. Forward this message to a couple friends and invite them to join the New Mainstream by signing up for email updates. Trust me, you’re going to want to hear what he has to say without the media filter.