Does anyone know where I can find campaign schedules for Texas?

[chiguirre]

I'd love to take the kids to see a candidate, but I haven't found any events in Houston listed on the candidates' sites. Is it just too early or am I not looking in the right place?

Has anyone taken young kids to a rally? Any practical advice?

Thanks a bunch!

[Mamagistra]

I SO wanted to attend a political rally for Ron Paul down in Lake Jackson last Sunday, but we had a meat delivery that we couldn't reschedule. :(:mad: It would have been a wonderful experience for my children, I think. (They've already been subjected to some minor campaigning just by riding around in my big red Ron Paulmobile.) :)

[Peek a Boo]

ROTFLOL!!

Debra --can I ride w/ you ??

:D

[Peek a Boo]

well, I haven't taken my guys to a rally recently, but we did go to the Rally last November where President Bush showed up to campaign for Rick Perry. I'm not a Perry or Bush fan, but i figgered it'd be neat for the kids to see The Prez :-)

I took all. 5. kids. to this thing. --the youngest was barely walking. 3 hours sitting in those stadium seats. I have patience to spare, but that was a total test of mine!!!!

I'd take them to a rally in a heartbeat. Maybe not a Democrat rally {snicker}, but i think it's a great idea. Ok maybe Hillary --dh got to fly her from Syracuse when Bill had heart problems. he liked the secret service agents, lol.

They helped campaign for the homeschool dad that won the mayoral election here, dh is a right wing wacko radio talk show nut, I'm a Ron Paul fan, and I'm on the Parks and Rec board, so they get their fair share of political talk :D

[Mamagistra]

I'm not a Perry...fan

http://easyfreesmileys.com/smileys/free-jumping-smileys-463.gif (http://easyfreesmileys.com/) I have to sling you a smilie for that! :D I'll try to blog the Paulmobile tomorrow...

[Ellie]

I can hardly even find out when I'm supposed to vote. Often that isn't until we see signs up that say "early voting here." Dh and I show up at the polling places half the time not even knowing what we're voting on before we get there. How are people in Texas supposed to vote intelligently when there is such a lack of information, for goodness' sake??

Sorry. Didn't mean to vent :-/ California may have its problems but we received sample ballots in the mail weeks before every election, with synopses of every item on the ballot, including pros and cons, and bios of every person running for every office. We have been *very* frustrated with the whole process here in Texas. Grr.

Note: Please notice that I am not saying that people in California vote more intelligently. I'm just saying that they *could* vote more intelligently if they wanted to. [*cheeky grin*]

[Amy loves Bud]

Ellie,

Are you familiar with Free Market Foundation (http://www.freemarket.org/)? They produce a very good voters guide. The guide for the March primary isn't up yet, but it should be soon.

[Eliana]

I took our 6 kids to a rally last week in Seattle, but it went a little differently than we had planned... We were among the thousands who were left standing outside. It was very cold, and near the end it began to rain, and although the doors opened at 11am, the candidate wasn't scheduled to speak until 12:30, so it got very boring for the kids after the excitement of watching the police move the excited crowd away from the entrance was over.

On the positive side, my older three kids listened intently as the speech was broadcast over the loudspeakers and the younger three came away with a passionate, if unreasoned, connection to our candidate.

Though we were all cold and stiff and our feet were so sore afterwards, I think it ended up being even more memorable for the kids than if we had gotten to be inside.

The greatest disappointment was learning from the papers that he came to see the crowd outside and speak to us, but he was on the other side of the crowd, and we missed it completely.

So, my advice would be to show up several hours ahead of time, if your candidate is drawing large crowds, and bring snacks (we were famished afterwards and had to stop for food before we could head home to hastily prepare for Shabbos) and... if you have older kids be prepared to answer a lot of questions about modern politics! (perhaps someday I'll share the conversation I had with our eldest afterwards....)

If he makes it to the general election, I hope he comes back to Washington state again, we'll be there even earlier this time!

Eliana

PS It is a very odd feeling supporting a candidate who might actually win something - I have been a passionate Independent my entire voting life, and have only rarely found any candidates I could in good conscience vote for, and none in whom I really believed. It is a little scary to care so much- the last time I cared this much I was in middle school, and the passion was negative then, I really didn't want Reagan to be reelected.

[Peek a Boo]

Ellie!! babe! Ya gotta be more involved! In CA they spoon feed info to you --it's a learned helplessness kinda thing :-) This is TX --you gotta HUNT down the resources, RIP out the info you want, and figure out how to apply it.

To answer the OP's question, I checked on this some more last night.
If you call the local Democratic or Republican headquarters they can be more helpful about who's gonna be where and when, and where/when to vote. Not every visit is scheduled though. Hillary already spoke in El Paso, and Debra shared that R Paul was in Houston.

check wiki for an up to date rundown on who's running, and you can click directly to their own wiki page for issues and/or to their camapign site. Don't forget to use the "contact us" feature :-)

[Peek a Boo]

I called the Texas Democratic Party -- no candidate's itenerary is publicized except for the Democratic Presidential Debate next Thursday in Austin. Add your email to the newsletter at http://www.txdemocrats.org/ for updates.

on to the republicans.....

[Ellie]

:: pinches Peek::

Ellie!! babe! Ya gotta be more involved! In CA they spoon feed info to you --it's a learned helplessness kinda thing :-) This is TX --you gotta HUNT down the resources, RIP out the info you want, and figure out how to apply it.

As if we haven't tried to do that, Missy! We're pretty savvy, y'know--maybe all that spoon-feeding had good results, lol.

[Ellie]

Are you familiar with Free Market Foundation (http://www.freemarket.org/)? They produce a very good voters guide. The guide for the March primary isn't up yet, but it should be soon.

I'll check it out. Thx!

[Peek a Boo]

The State Republican office suggested that it is still too early --wait till the last week of February and expect appearances very close to the election date of March 4th. They also suggested contacting your local county political office and continue monitoring what's going on.

Hope that helps :-)

ok Ellie --make that call :-) Presidential candidate's issues are spelled out at the 2008 Presidential wiki article.
voting is usually found out by calling your county elections office. Good luck!

[chiguirre]

Thanks Peek! I'm glad to hear I was on the right track and just too early.

I'm going to have to make the most of this primary season, this is probably the only time that Texas will have a competitive primary before my kids can vote. I'm actually looking forward to robocalls just so the kids can listen to candidates "talk" to them. It just seems more exciting than watching on TV or youtube. I'm sure my attitude will change after we receive too many, but for now it sounds exciting.;)