Wesley Clark: Send Nick Lampson and Chet Edwards back to Washington

Wesley Clark could not have said it better.

Today, I'd like to bring your attention to two fine Democrats who stood directly in the path of DeLay's redistricting scheme: Nick Lampson and Chet Edwards. They aren't backing down. Instead, they're fighting back this year, and they need your help.

Congressman Nick Lampson was one of DeLay's top targets, and, in 2004 at least, DeLay succeeded in removing Nick from the Texas delegation. But DeLay's efforts came back to bite him, as Nick decided to challenge the former Majority Leader in Texas Congressional District 22 -- and the strength of Nick's campaign eventually forced DeLay to bow out of the race because DeLay knew he would lose to Nick in November!

Unfortunately, DeLay and his allies have hand-picked a successor who doesn't have the same baggage, and they are planning to put more than $3 million behind her campaign to distort Nick's record. In fact, they've already started running push-polls in the district to distort Nick's stands on the issues. Nick Lampson was a great Representative in Congress -- a leader on mental health, seniors' and veterans' issues, and initiatives to protect children -- and he'll be a fine representative once again after he wins in November.

Click here to help give Nick the resources he needs to fight back against Tom DeLay's hand-picked successor!

Chet Edwards, who represents President Bush's Crawford ranch, was also supposed to be a victim of DeLay's redistricting, but he was the sole targeted Democrat who was able to pull out a close victory -- by just over 9,000 votes. Thus, it's no surprise that he's being heavily targeted again -- running against a multi-millionaire ExxonMobil heir, who has only lived in the district for 17 months. I have complete confidence in Chet's ability to pull out another tough victory if he gets the resources he needs to get his message out to the voters.

I've known Congressman Edwards for years. When I was a 2 star at Ft. Hood in Texas, Chet was a young congressman, and he was one of the people that everybody knew had a great future in American politics. Chet is running in a very conservative district; in fact it is the most Republican district in America represented by a Democrat. He continues to be reelected, because Chet has served his constituents well. Chet has fought hard for our veterans. He believes that we must honor the promises made to those who fought to defend our nation, especially promises for health care and retiree pay.

It's up to us to make sure he gets back to Congress to fight for our veterans -- click here to contribute to Chet's campaign today!

For years, the Texas delegation was among the strongest Democratic delegations in the country. By sending Nick Lampson and Chet Edwards back to Washington this November, we can help to rebuild the delegation and ensure that Texans throughout the state have Representatives who are focused on helping their constituents, not partisan politics.