CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa _ Colin Allred had a very big promise to make about Joe Biden's prospects in the general election.
Forget conventional battlegrounds like Pennsylvania, Michigan or Wisconsin, the swing-seat congressman told a few dozen Biden supporters and staff gathered recently at a campaign office here. If Democrats nominate the former vice president, he'll win an even bigger electoral prize: Texas.
"I'm telling you from the plains of Texas, we need you to pick Joe Biden," said Allred, bullish about a state Democrats haven't won since Jimmy Carter's victory there in 1976. Most political analysts consider the state a longshot for the eventual Democratic nominee in even the rosiest of scenarios.
