Well, I filed two important sets of papers today. The first was my Campaign Tresurer Appointment, with the Texas Ethics Commission (I sent that out "Certified"--no way I'm getting busted because a secretary can't keep track of incoming mail). So now I'm ready and raring for all them campaign contributions to come in (the silence so far is deafening...lol). I really didn't file because I expect contributions to come in (although I remain hopeful), but because I must have a treasurer appointed if I spend more than $500, even if it's my own money. And if I have the money to spend, I will.

Fortunately, the paperwork is considered to be effective the date that it is mailed, so I have my certified mail receipt to prove that it was mailed today. So I'm good to go.

The second piece of paper is one I debated for some time, believe it or not. It is the paperwork for CPS to remove my wife and I from their roles. The reason I debated it is that the CPS involvement is actually a NEUTRAL issue in our case, as my campaign is one that is being run on the premise that CPS acts unconstitutionally. If anything, it gives us "steet cred".

A couple more reasons to add to the list of reasons I believe I can win this race (I am thinking of making this list, and posting it, like a list of affirmations, on my mirror for those "down" times) are: 1) State Comptroller Carolyn Keeton Strayhorn, a Republican running as an independent, picked up the endorsement of the Teacher's Association, continually increasing the likelihood that more Republicans will vote for individual candidates rather than straight ticket; and 2) a good look at the recent state House redistricting. My oppnent has run unopposed for the past 8 terms, and in that time the district removed one of his more heavily populated counties and placed it in another district, as well as other counties across the Panhandle, and added 5 additional counties where he has NEVER RUN AGAINST AN OPPONENT. I intend to target those counties heavily (they are geographically where I intended to target in the first place), and hope that I can balance out the "favorite son" advantage he has in our county (although even in our county, I expect to get from 400-1,000 of the approximately 4,000 votes to be had, based on some pretty credible numbers). I told my wife, if we can win 1,000 votes in our county, we actually stand a pretty good chance of winning.