Local vs. National

According to Paul S. Herrnson "congressional elections are usually fought on local issues" (p.88). Which is why I find it especially interesting that National issues seem to be coming up frequently in this campaign between Rodriquez and Canseco.

On Canseco main website there's a section which specifically speaks about "issues" And like the readings suggested, I too assumed that almost all of the issues discussed would be focused on district 23's most prioritized concerns. However, most of the concerns that come up are actually big national issues that have been very controversial in the past few months such as the health care reform , terrorism, illegal immigration etc. I find it interesting that when you read about these topics that Canseco posts he also frequently touches upon "the democrats in congress/Washington". Which directs the readers focus not only to larger national topics but also the two parties in general. Canseco Website

However, Ciro on the other hand according to his Facebook page seems to focus on talking mainly about the local issues and his voting in Washington and the effect of it on his district.Ciro Website

I find these differences between local and national very interesting But i also feel that there are logical reasons as to why each candidate chooses to focus on one. In regards to Ciro he is the incumbent and has already been in this position, therefore he has actual data and information that he can bring back to the people. Not to mention that once voted in people expect news from him as to what he's doing for their district. Whereas with Canseco, he hasn't been in Ciro's position before and he's trying to reel people in, so it's probably very strategic for him to talk about big issues that people will feel strongly about and align themselves with him.

I think it's going to be very interesting to see if both candidates continue to focus on different issues, or if they will meet on one common issue eventually.

Dirty Tactics?

This week of the congressional elections was kind of tame in Texas's 23rd district. However one thing that did catch my attention was how Fransisco Canseco decided to open up the "official" week of campaigning.

Fransisco Canseco much like President Obama is very active on trying to use all media resources available to him in order to reach out to most voters. One of his most popular ways of doing this is through having his own Facebook page in which he updates frequently on what he is currently doing.
His most current post told readers that this was the official start to the campaign to defeat incumbent Rodriquez and also remove Nancy Pelosi from her position as Speaker of House. The rest of his post goes on to him discussing how Rodriquez really felt the "heat" this summer from media coverage of an outburst he had with an audience member.

Although i understand Canseco's logic at trying to demonize Rodriquez in order for voters to not support him, its becoming a bit tiresome for me. I've always been one to believe that politicians should try and and run as clean and honest campaign as possible, I understand that sometimes it's foolish to not poke at the opponents flaws even a little bit, so i was willing to look past Canseco highlighting Rodriquez's flaws on his own homepage. But now it's become redundant. I would like to hear more about what Canseco think he can do that is so much better than Rodriquez. I'm also not a fan of politician blatantly hating on the other party. What does Nancy Pelosi have to anything with this congressional race? She is not his opponent therefore, her name should even enter his statements. I feel that he needs to focus on his district and what needs to be improved upon it, instead of simply gossiping.

Texas District 23

Ciro Rodriquez has been the democratic congressman of Texas's district 23 since 2007, he previously represented the 28th district from 1997 to 2005, and has been in public office for over 30 years. In 2006 Rodriquez defeated Republican representative David Bonilla, which was the second time a republican incumbent was defeated by a democratic challenger since 1988. I believe that this race will be interesting because of the growing unpopularity of democrats, i would love to see if Ciro will be able to keep his republican competition at bay.
Rodriquez's competition for representative is businessman Fransisco Quico Conseco. When asked about his chances of winning during the primary Canesco claimed that "You can't win this without being Latino, the 23rd is a Hispanic district and it is cut for a Hispanic candidate". It seems that Canesco may have been right because he easily beat his competition for the nomination. However Francisco has one disadvantage that Ciro does not, which is that he has never held any political positions before. Canseco claims that his business knowledge and an "anti-politics" campaign is exactly what will win him over with the people.

In Hernson's first chapter he states that one of the common features about congressional elections is a tendency to focus on the individual candidate rather than the their affiliated party. So far judging by Canesco's webpage it seems this may be true. On his homepage are the bolded words "CIRO IS OUT OF CONTROL" and beneath it is a video clip of Ciro being belligerent with an audience member at some kind of press conference. Canesco makes no mention of the democratic party but instead chooses to attack Ciro's character as a candidate proving Hernson right.

It will be interesting to see if Ciro uses these same "candidate focused" tactics in response to Canesco. And also whether Canesco will continue to low blow Ciro through out the race.