Dayna Steele

In the political prognostication biz, DC Insiders are very conservative. I don't mean they back conservative policies or that they're anti-Choice or pro-Wall Street. I mean they are loathe to go out on a ledge prognosticating.

Democratic women did well in Texas yesterday: Veronica Escobar, Dayna Steele, Sylvia GarciaLet's start with this: among Texas' 15 most populated counties, which are the only ones the Secretary of State announces, early voting in the Democratic primaries-- so in places like Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio...-- spiked by 105% from the 2014 midterm. That means more than doubled.

DCCC's fearless leaderTomorrow is the first step in the process of Texans deciding who will represent them in Congress. Although the state is one of the most gerrymandered in the country, demographics-- and an enormous anti-Trump backlash-- seem to be negating GOP gerrymandered advantages in many districts. Not all though.

The Texas primaries are less than a month away-- March 6. And the races are crowded. Or at least the seats that look the most flippable are crowded, even after lots of candidates have dropped out. Texas has 36 congressional districts. The very last one, TX-36, southeast Texas in the Houston area, is so red, that the DCCC isn't even contesting it.

I don't go in for identity politics at all. Voting for someone because they were born a woman, gay, of any particular religion, Asian or black, for example, is not my cup pf tea. Nor is voting for someone who is a veteran, a scientist, a doctor or part of any age group. Take women. Women make up 51% of the population but just 22% of the Senate and 19% of the House. That's outrageous.

-by Jasper Ward

Dayna Steele virtually put her campaign for Congress on hold for nearly a month in the aftermath of the devastation Hurricane Harvey brought to the Houston area so she and her campaign volunteers could work with their neighbors on the immediate effects of the storm. Now Texans-- not to mention folks in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands-- are waiting for help from the Trump Regime. It's not coming.

Over the last few decades, once populist Texas has turned into a very red state. But not hopelessly red. Last year , without even trying, Hillary made unexpected inroads in districts that were gerrymandered to prevent unexpected inroads. Trump won the state-- 4,685,047 (52.23%) to 3,877,868 (43.24%). Those 3.87 million Texans who voted for Hillary were more than her margin of victory in the national popular vote.

Yesterday, writing for the Washington Post James Hohmann made the case that the blundering moron has wrecked the American health-care system by immediately halting cost-sharing reductions for 7 million Americans and now owns the dire consequences.

Most people in the Houston area know Dayna Steele, former KLOL radio host, as "the First Lady of Rock'n'Roll." The first time they heard every great song and every great band-- from U2 , Nirvana, Joan Jett and The Police to Van Halen, Heart and Bon Jovi-- that jolted their lives-- in a way few politicians ever can-- it was intimately, just them, their radio... and Dayna.