Unless you are an incumbent with a million dollar plus warchest, running for a congressional office is about retail politics. And nothing is more retail than a good old fashioned hot dog social! What is a hot dog social you ask?

Well, it's similar to an ice cream social except with hot dogs! Works like this: one of the volunteers in a campaign does all the work of organizing a function, inviting friends and neighbors and then serving the hot dogs or ice cream while the candidate stops by and talks to the folks, tells them what his or her issues are, and tries to get their vote. Plus their money and/or their time.

I had the opportunity Saturday to attend one of the hot dog variety, organized by volunteer Dave Havel for candidate Roy Morales. As most of you know, Roy is attempting to defeat Gene Green, the only holder ever of the seat known as Texas 29. Rep. Green as the aforementioned warchest, Roy has worn out shoes!

Around 50 people made it out on a very, very hot Saturday afternoon to Grace United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall in Baytown. It was a fun time and a chance to get out of the heat for a few minutes. My favorite moment was this:

After all, isn't that what it's all about? Why we bother to worry about the future?

Anyways, Roy did what he does best, which is give a good speech. Some, like Jared Woodfill, are excellent at working the room, shaking everyone's hand, etc. Some, like Roy, are best in front of the group, outlining their vision and ideas. He focused on four issues:

• Repeal Obamacare
• Repeal Cap and Trade should it pass
• Reduce spending
• Border security

For the most point, those are familiar subjects by now. He got his loudest ovation by saying that we need to protect our borders. But he also said something odd, at least to the ears of most Republicans. After that applause, he said something like "but not with freedom limiting bills like the Patriot Act". Nary a sound was heard as the place grew quiet. Although I certainly agree with his position regarding the Patriot Act, criticism of it isn't something that Republicans are used to hearing and it confuses them. If I were Roy, I'd drop that line. Close behind the border issue to this crowd was cap and trade, which should be obvious to anyone who lives in Baytown.

Another area that he might need to think about is his criticism of Rep. Green's earmarks. During his remarks on reducing government spending, he mentioned the 700 million or thereabouts that Rep. Green earmarked. Now, that is a fair point and music to the ears of a conservative (at least in theory) but this district is probably 55% or so Democratic. And one man's pork barrel earmark is another man's paycheck. So, I'm not sure that it is the best campaign tactic for Roy to tell people he's going to cut that pork while Rep. Green is attending a ribbon cutting pointing out that he was the one that brought the bacon home. Just sayin'.

One other thing Roy mentioned was an internal poll taken last month. He said that it showed Rep. Green with only 34%. I wasn't sure if this was an approval rating or not, so I asked one of the volunteers, who said that it showed Green at 34, Roy at 21 and undecideds at 45. Which is very, very good news for Roy! Now, if we can just convince D_n and others to stop attacking him and telling people he isn't a conservative....why do they continue to do that? Ridiculous. Even if you don't like Roy, you have to acknowledge, if you call yourself a conservative, is that replacing Green with Roy would be a wonderful thing. Don't you? So to all you self-appointed "RINO" hunters out there, go away. Please?

A few pictures from the event: