If you had any doubts about whether Congressional District 10 – the Austin-to-Houston district once considered unwinnable for Democrats – has really and truly become competitive, consider this: In the past hour on CNN, I have seen ads for both Republican incumbent Michael McCaul and his Democratic challenger Larry Joe Doherty. The ads have yet to appear on either’s YouTube channels, but we’ll post them when we can.
This is a major development – to my knowledge (and I’ve been covering the modern District 10 ever since Tom DeLay personally drew it up in 2003) there have never been general election television buys. This is because there has never been a Democrat in CD 10 capable of buying one, and thus McCaul has never needed to buy one, either.
This election is radically different, however – Doherty has proven to be a fundraising machine, keeping even pace with the wealthy McCaul all year. And last week, Doherty’s campaign was added to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Red to Blue” program, which will likely send even more cash his way.
This article appears in October 17 • 2008.