Thousands of Democratic bloggers are descending on Austin for the Netroots Nation conference.
Among them is Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. He shared his message about the party's promising chances in November.
Austin was Dean's second stop of the day; Crawford was his first.
Despite the proximity to Bush's ranch home, Dean said many there are ready for change.
"The only thing they may not like is that the Bush ranch is going to be a retirement home for President Bush and Dick Cheney and John McCain and all these people on the right," Dean said.
Texas Republicans thought Dean may make a comment like this one.
They released a statement this week about his "divisive rhetoric" that they said will not resonate with Texans.
The Republican Party of Texas' Hans Klingler said Texas will continue to be a red state.
"The Democrats' dream of turning this state even remotely purple is just that – it's a pipe dream," he said.
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Blogging convention
Howard Dean was just one among many speaking in support of the Democratic Party.
 
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Dean doesn't think so. He plans for Democrats to win in states they never have before. In fact, he said red Texas is getting bluer all the time.
"That's how we're going to win – we're not just down here wasting our money," he said.
Republicans said Dean wasted gas to fly here, though they admit that active Democrats are good motivators for them.
"I think for Texas Republicans that's incredibly important, we're not going to leave any stone unturned," Klingler said.
Dean told Democrats to do the same.
"It's easy to register people to vote compared to getting them out to vote," he said. "We need you to go door-to-door."
That's a method Republicans support, just not from Dean.
"When Howard Dean goes door-to-door in the state of Texas, I challenge them to meet him with a door slam or an, 'I'm not interested,'" Klingler said.
But, a heated election touching down in Texas has got almost everyone interested.
Howard Dean's next stop is New Orleans on Friday.
Another prominent Democrat is expected to attend this weekend's conference.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be addressing bloggers Saturday.
