This coming weekend is one I’ve been anticipating for a long time. It brings great people together to talk about what we have in common, share stories, catch up with old friends, attend a party or two, and generally enjoy the great State of Texas.Yeah, in two short days, the Republic of Texas Biker Rally meets in Austin.

For months, I’ve been intending to participate. But I realized I’m double-booked, because I’m also scheduled to go to a different event that brings great people together to talk about what we have in common, share stories, catch up with old friends, attend a party or two, and generally enjoy the great State of Texas.

Yeah, in two short days, the Texas Democratic Convention will kick off in Houston.

To make up for this conflict, I took a tremendous Hill Country ride this past Saturday. A buddy and I covered a lot of ground out in the Fredericksburg/Kerrville/Bandera/Medina/Utopia area. We ended the day by stopping at Luckenbach, where we listened to music.

It was a great way to sort of resolve the scheduling conflict.

(And in the spirit of the great ride, I’ve left a treat at the end of this Wire. Read down to it and enjoy.)

This year’s Texas Democratic Convention will center on our efforts as Democrats to do right by this state and its future. We all love Texas. And Texas can do better.Texas can do better by making government honest and open. We can create a middle-class vision for the Texas economy. And we can build up Texas schools from our pre-kindergarten classes to our K-12 classrooms to our colleges and universities.

I’ll be talking about making Texas better, and ways to help spread that message, throughout the convention.

And I hope you’ll take part in the conversation.

Obviously, not all of you can be in Houston this weekend. And the thousands of you who do make it will no doubt find yourselves torn between various events in and out of the convention center.I’m here to help.

Throughout the weekend, I’ll be tweeting from Houston about what’s going on at the Convention and what it means for the state’s future. I’ll also pass on news items, messages from old friends and dignitaries, and maybe pictures of a funny hat or two.

But more than anything, I want to hear from you.

Starting Thursday afternoon, I want you to log in to Twitter and send me your questions, comments and observations about why you love Texas, how you’re proud of your home, and how you believe Texas can be better – and what we can do to make it better.

All you have to do is post a Twitter message with either my handle – @kirkpwatson – or the hashtag “#AskKW.”

I’ll be live-tweeting – retweeting and responding to your posts – for about an hour starting at 10 a.m. on Friday and again on Saturday at 10 a.m. And I’ll be responding to your thoughts and questions as quickly as I can when I’m not sleeping, working, or, well, trying to avoid having my picture made while I’m wearing funny hats.

Think of it as a 48-hour Twitter chat – with a couple of extra-chatty hours starting at 10 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Follow my feed and the hashtag #AskKW to tune into the conversation.

I really hope you will – Texas will be better with your involvement.

There’s another thing you can do to help create a better Texas – join me in supporting the Promesa Project.I’m pledging up to $2,000 from my campaign to support this innovative and important organizing effort. But I need you – over the next 48 hours – to help match that amount with your own contribution.

The Promesa Project is directed at Texans whose success will help define our state’s future. It has two objectives:

• Encourage young Latinos and Latinas to give their promesa that they’ll vote Democratic, and they’ll talk to their family and friends about voting Democratic.
• Encourage these critical Texans to turn out in elections.

The Promesa Project has already recruited bright young Texans to help mobilize voters. Now, organizers are working to connect supporters through Facebook. And they’re raising money – before the convention starts Thursday – to let folks know about this tool and how to use it.That means we have about 48 hours to build support for this important effort. Please contribute a small amount – whatever you can afford – to match my $2,000 contribution.You can contribute through the State Party’s website by clicking on this link.

These folks represent the future of Texas. Let’s work to build them a better Texas.

Here’s the treat. Pause and take 4 minutes, 44 seconds and treat yourself to this great motorcycle song by JJ Cale with Eric Clapton. It is so worth it. Can’t do any better than this.