Put the Texas Senate race on your radar screen, and open up your wallets (please). Democratic candidate and Afghan war vet, Rick Noriega, is already running a very strong race against the GOP incumbent, John Cornyn, who is one of the nastiest and most right wing Republicans in the Senate (think: Santorum, but dumber).

Cornyn once said that violence against judges is understandable (remember that one?) And Cornyn defended Karl Rove’s role in the Valerie Plame affair. Rick Noriega, on the other hand, has a 100% rating from NARAL, is good on gay issues, and more. You can give to Noriega by clicking on the blue box (right).

But what are his chances? Rather incredible, actually.

Last week, two polls came out showing that Noriega had moved to within four points of Cornyn:

1. Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 5/5-7. Likely voters. MoE 4% (9/24-26/07 results) Cornyn (R) 48 (51)

Noriega (D) 44 (35)

That is nothing short of astounding. And lest anyone worry that it’s an outlier, these numbers confirm a Rasmussen poll from earlier this week:

2. Rasmussen. 5/1. Likely voters. MoE 4% (No trend lines) Cornyn (R) 47

Noriega (D) 43

Rasmussen elaborated:

It’s time to add United States Senator John Cornyn to the list of potentially vulnerable Republican incumbents in Election 2008. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state find Cornyn leading Democratic state legislator Rick Noriega by just four percentage points, 47% to 43%. Any incumbent who polls below 50% is considered potentially vulnerable. That is especially true when a little known challenger is so competitive in an early general election match-up.

We can help make Noriega a better known and better funded challenger.

Texas Democrats are energized this year. And, Noriega is the perfect candidate for his state. He’s a native Texan with an impressive career and commitment to public service. Rick is a veteran who has served in the U.S. Army and the Texas National Guard – including a fourteen month tour of duty in Afghanistan. Check out his website.

Rick Noriega is a candidate who can change the political landscape in Texas. Howie Klein interviewed Rick recently, and he is great on the issues you care about. Let’s help him do it by clicking on the blue box, above, and donating to Rick’s campaign. We’ve set a generous goal of raising $15,000 this week via the blog. We’ll be reminding you throughout the week. And we’re done with Rick, we’ll hit another race, and so on. Thanks, guys. JOHN

PS By law, you can give a maximum of $2300 to Noriega. But honestly, even 25 or 50 bucks is appreciated. It all adds up.