Texas Dems leader talks tough

I don't know how many Texas bloggers saw the AP interview with new Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa.

But, if he can deliver on half his ideas, and reach half his goals, then he's the real deal.

Basically, he says, this is not going to be the Bill White (2010), late to the party with Chris Bell (2006) or Tony Sanchez (2002) party of moderate stances, pandering to indepenedent voters.

Hinojosa says it's not worth it, that most of them have gone Republican and can't be swayed back, and ....

Here's the key ...

That many liberals, especially minority voters, have gotten turned off, or at least numbed out, as a result.

Hinojosa says there's more future in building up a liberal base rather than pandering to the "center."

And, he's honest enough to admit that he once thought the moderate route was the way to go, himself.

And, can you get some candidates with dynamism? I mean, an old gym sock had more dynamism than Chris Bell, and as much as Jim White.

And, can we get at least one black statewide candidate along with whites and Hispanics?

That said, if Gilberto is hoping demographics is going to "turn Texas blue," he needs to start with some GOTV among his own fellow ethnics.

You see, it's true that on turnout, the old story of 1 Anglo = 2 African-Americans = 3 Hispanics is no longer true. At least not for black voters, who surpassed whites nationally in percentage of turnout last year.

Hispanics, though? They still trailed by a fair degree.

And Texas Hispanics? They were an additional 10 percentage points behind the national average. Nationally, 48 percent of eligible Hispanics voted. In Texas, just 38 percent. And, no, this isn't an "illegals" issue; the graphs are all based on Hispanics who are U.S. citizens. So, Gilberto? Before relying on demographic assumptions that are undercut by other demographics within your ethnic group, you might want to first get your ethnic group to actually show up at the polls.