 "Photo: Megan Peyton")
Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean rolled into Austin Thursday afternoon aboard a red, white and blue bio-diesel bus for the second stop on the committe's nationwide voter registration tour.
The 2004 presidential candidate campaigned not only on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama but also for state Democratic candidates.
"Rick Noriega's going to be a lot better senator than John Cornyn is, and if we pick up five seats in the Texas House we can get a House of Representatives that's actually going to do something about health care and gas prices," Dean said Thursday in Brush Square Park across from the Austin Convention Center.
Dean started the tour in Crawford, the small Texas town where President Bush's ranch is located, before heading south to address about 300 Austinites at the park.
"A lot of people want change in this country, even in Crawford, Texas," said committee spokeswoman Stacie Paxton. "To have a hundred people come out in a town, that's 700 in population I think says something about people wanting change in this country."
Local Democratic grassroots organizers attended Dean's speech to further their own efforts in expanding the party within the state.
"Everyone right now is really pushing for change, and I think the biggest change Texas can do is turn blue," said 19-year-old Thomas Sizer, a member of Rep. Mark Strama's Campaign Academy and a volunteer with Turn Texas Blue, a Travis County Democratic organization.
Among the crowd were bloggers from around the country attending the 2008 Netroots Nation conference where Dean spoke
early Thursday night. Netroots Nation is an online blogging community for progressive voices in politics.
"[The bloggers] bring a voice to the process," Paxton said. "The Democratic Party's about including more people into the process, and that's what this convention is about - giving people a voice in their own democracy."
Paxton said the blue bus's presence in a red state is important for the national Democratic Party.
"While it may be a challenge to win the presidential election here, we are only a few points down," Paxton said. "We have great candidates, like Rick Noriega, that are running for the Senate, and having a majority in the Senate is going to be really critical when Barack Obama is president so we can get priorities done for the American people."
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