A few things first, the Clinton campaign plans to have sufficient funding to contest Texas. Second, in Presidential years, a lot of Texas is competitive, starting with major urbanized counties like Harris, Dallas, Bexar, and Travis. Third, in this year's elections, Republicans have no high profile races on the ballot, which is led by Railroad Commission, Texas Supreme Court, and Court of Criminal Appeals races. Fourth, history shows (2008 and 2012) that with no significant Democratic investment made, still led to Obama carrying Harris County and other majors twice. Fifth, down ballot setbacks occurred in 2008 and 2012 and a shift of 1% (12,000 votes) of the vote to the Democratic side from Republican and our losses go up geometrically.

Just looking at 2012, the following fine GOP judges and elected officials would be out with such a shift: Ryan Patrick, Tad Halbach, Ken Wise, Brock Thomas, Debra Mayfield, Mike Sullivan Tax Assessor-Collector, and on the margins, Renee Magee.

While the Trump campaign remains a mixed bag: good - a great Supreme Court prospect list; and stupid - attacking the federal judge hearing a lawsuit against a Trump company. It seems what we see is what we are going to get from him.

So what is the lesson for conservatives? It's all about the down ballot. Focus on the local ballot. Tell the story behind some of the outstanding down ballot candidates, and with the right campaign and independent campaign efforts we can survive.

Another weekend, and more statements that cause one to question her judgment on big issues.

So here it goes: given the opportunity on This Week on ABC, Hillary declined to say we have a constitutional right to bear arms. And given the opportunity once again, she continues to spin about her illegal private server used as Secretary of State. These are a few of the reasons she is not trusted by a vast majority of Americans (of course Trump's numbers are nothing to write home about either).

As the Greater Houston Southeast Texas area endures yet another 100 year flood, so many we have lost count, and as we experience the deterioration of our roads, bridges, and highways, it's clear it's time to roll up our sleeves and propose conservative solutions to our issues.

For flood control, we need a regional solution involving the City of Houston¸ Harris County, the State of Texas, the federal government, and surrounding counties all coming together on a plan that works. Part of the solution is ending the free lunch developers have gotten. The cost of the impact on flood control by developers needs to be paid as part of the cost of development, not by the taxpayers. Part of the solution is a regional and statewide flood management plan. While we're at it, we need to explore shipping the flood waters west where they are needed, like West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, or California, via pipelines. Maybe, we could create a water revenue stream for Texas.

For infrastructure, we need to develop a Texas 2025 plan, which outlines every project Texas needs to complete in order to continue to prosper and grow. We also need a plan for how to pay for it, and let the citizens vote on it.

Just hoping things work out won't get it done, we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Reality check: The economy, as reflected in the labor market, is weak. The economy created 38,000 jobs in May, yet unemployment dropped because 455,000 gave up on the labor force; and of those still in, 468,000 want full-time work but can't locate it.

Our labor participation rate (age 16 and over) is now near a historical low of 62.6%.

And there is more, the shrinking middle class with declining purchasing power and job security, the benefits of middle class life are less attainable than a decade ago. Statistics tell us over the last 15 years, average weekly wages rose at 7.4% in real terms, which is around a .5% yearly increase.

Now take the weak income increases, and pair it with a 60% increase in the cost of medical insurance and double digit property taxes, and you understand we are breaking the back of our middle class with little prospect of improvement under the Obama-Clinton-Sanders economic plan.

Let's hope there is a conservative opportunity to help the middle class and to get our economy going again.

A recent story about our diverse Americans by age causes one to reflect on what conservatives need to be doing to be successful.

For the future of a political party like Republicans, we know Generation X (born 1965-1980) and Millennials (born 1981-1997) now total 141.2 million or 43% of our population. The Baby boomers are now just 23% and declining!

If the GOP wants to continue and grow, it must reboot itself as a party relevant to Generation X and Millennials. The same old way won't cut it for the next generations.

Innovative ideas and programs designed to attract the next generations of voters need to be undertaken or the GOP will slowly decline. Status quo leadership won't get it done.

Red, White & Blue featuring TCR Editor Gary Polland and liberal commentator David Jones on Fridays at 7:30 pm on PBS Houston Channel 8, replaying Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 8, Mondays at 11:30 pm on Channel 8.2 and on the web at www.houstonpublicmedia.org.

Red, White & Blue returns June 24:
Supreme Court Review: What happened and why.

Gary Polland is a long-time conservative and Republican spokesman, fund-raiser, and leader who completed three terms as the Harris County Republican Chairman. During his three terms, Gary was described as the most successful county Chairman in America by Human Events - The National Conservative Weekly. He is in his sixteenth year of editing a newsletter dealing with key conservative and Republican issues. The last fourteen years he has edited Texas Conservative Review. As a public service for the last 13 years, Gary has published election guides for the GOP primary, general elections and city elections, all with the purpose of assisting conservative candidates. Gary is also in his 14th year of co-hosting Red, White and Blue on PBS Houston, longest running political talk show in Texas history. Gary is a practicing attorney and strategic consultant. He can be reached at (713) 621-6335.