Team,

There's a Purple Heart emblem on my license plate. More than once, folks have kindly stopped to say thank you for serving -- but they direct it to my husband. He politely corrects them.

I'm used to people underestimating me. The Washington establishment underestimated me when I took them on to open military jobs to women. Now Sen. Cornyn is underestimating me and my team. He knows he's in trouble -- he wouldn't be calling in his allies to bail him out otherwise -- but he doesn't know just how much trouble he's in yet. He doesn't know that I have the support of folks like you.

Not too many people know Sen. Cornyn around here, since he's spent 18 years in Washington peddling legislative favors to the special interests in exchange for campaign cash. Those who do know him don't much like him. Texans have a sensitive BS meter, and they know that despite his three terms in the Senate, he hasn't done diddly squat for us.

Now, I won't lie, defeating a three-term incumbent senator won't be easy. But I've got the scars on my arm and the Purple Heart on my license plate to remind me that I've been through tougher situations and made it out on top. Most of all -- I have you and a grassroots army on my side. Will you help me take on Sen. Cornyn and his big-money donors?

-- MJ