Grant Endorses Doherty

Perhaps moved by the spirit of the Clintons, Dan Grant, a former Democratic candidate for Congressional District 10, has finally broken his silence on endorsing his primary opponent, Larry Joe Doherty.

Trial lawyer Doherty is challenging two-term Republican incumbent Michael McCaul in the district that Tom DeLay's gerrymander sent sprawling all the way from Austin to Houston.

“In the midst of the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression, Larry Joe Doherty wants to turn the page — and Mike McCaul wants to laminate it," said Grant.

In the May primary, Grant took 33,072 votes (39%) to Doherty's 51,977 (61%).

Full press release from Grant after the jump.

DAN GRANT: 'CENTRAL TEXAS NEEDS POLITICAL BAILOUT FROM DAMAGE DONE BY McCAULONOMICS'

Former Democratic Challenger Calls For Return to Common Sense Economic Leadership in Congressional Seat Once Held By Lyndon B. Johnson and J.J. 'Jake' Pickle

(Austin) -- Former Democratic congressional candidate Dan Grant today said that Central Texas needs a political bailout from the failed economic policies of George W. Bush and dangerous acquiescence of local allies like Mike McCaul, saying that challenger Larry Joe Doherty is positioned to restore the kind of leadership voters used to be able to count on in the seat once held by Lyndon B. Johnson and J.J. 'Jake' Pickle.

"Middle-class families and small businesses have been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by the administration’s economic incompetence,” Grant said. “In the midst of the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression, Larry Joe Doherty wants to turn the page — and Mike McCaul wants to laminate it.”

Grant said the fact that the 10th Congressional District’s boundaries were redrawn during a controversial redistricting scheme pushed by disgraced former Congressman Tom DeLay is part of the same culture of corruption that has led to the current financial crisis.

“Central Texas deserves a fresh start under new leadership,” Grant said. “No more endless war in Iraq, no more Katrina, no more McCaulonomics putting at risk the pension and small business of ordinary taxpayers who work hard and play by the rules.”

Grant is a foreign policy consultant who spent much of the past decade working as a civilian under contract to the U.S. Government in trouble spots around the world. He returned to Texas last year from Iraq, where he served as part of the international civilian team in Baghdad. He helped the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq prepare and conduct the historic elections of 2005 and, as deputy director of Iraq's largest out-of-country voting program, oversaw the effort to register eligible voters in major U.S. cities for Iraq's Transitional National Assembly election.

A graduate of Georgetown University and the London School of Economics, Grant grew up in Austin and interned for legendary Congressman Jake Pickle while attending McCallum High School.