The District 107 race is on (officially)

Lake Highlands resident Bill Keffer isn't letting the fact that he lost this race last time stop him now.

The official press release from Keffer touts his "grassroots Republican" campaign and states that District 107 expects its representative to be "a leader on conservative issues." Keffer, who served in this seat from 2003-2006, will be trying to unseat Lakewood Heights resident and Democrat Allen Vaught, the newcomer to whom he lost during the November 2006 election.

Both men already are being lambasted by organizations on opposite ends of the political spectrum — Keffer for his supposed poor environmental record and Vaught for his alleged fiscal irresponsibility. Vaught likely won the last election by campaigning vehemently on public education issues, and some recent publicity about his military service in Iraq won't hurt him. But Texas Monthly political writer Paul Burka identified him months ago as one of the 2008 election's most vulnerable Democrats.

Comments

[Aren Cambre]

Vauhgt is definitely vulnerable. He's a freak of an anti-Bush tide that won't play nearly as much in 2008.

[Jeff Siegel]

I meant to mention the Goolsby-Kent race in District 102 wghen I posted last week (http://backtalkeastdallas.typepad.com/back_talk/2008/01/dallas-countys.html), which is another bellwether in how Democratic -- or not -- Dallas County has become.

The district, which takes in a bit of Garland, some of Lake Highlands and North Dallas, has been GOP for a while. Goolsby won it by about seven points in 2006. If he loses -- and Kent looks like she has a chance, using a Vaught-style, education-oriented campaign, then that's another point that we might be seeing a change.

[Quentin Mendoza]

In reference to Aren's comment above, Bush must be doing a pretty bad job if Dallas voters are willing to elect one freak just to protest the presidency of another.

[CM]

The anti-Bush tide is definitely receding. His approval rating has climbed back into the low thirties. Don't take your W sticker off just yet.

[Squirt]

Anyone who thinks Vaught's election had anything to do with any "anti-Bush tide" or Dallas County's Democratic Vote is wrong. Check out the District Election Analysis on Vaught's page on the House of Reps Website at
http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/reports/house/dist107/r8.htm

The same people who voted in the majority for all of the Republican Judges had to mark out their ballot to vote for Vaught, who was basically the only Democrat to win in the district. These are NOT people who are voting straight tickets, or if they are, they decided not to vote for the R in that race.

There are many probable reasons why, for instance the right-wing stances of the former incumbent including his pro-voucher/anti-environment typical republican ideals that don't sit well in this area of town (including Lake Highlands). The people in this district are independent thinkers and CHOSE Vaught, it was no accident.