Garcia sees Democrats as Davids poised to slay GOP Goliaths this fall.

Garcia, 40, is a former Navy aviator with a Harvard law degree challenging GOP state Rep. Gene Seaman of Corpus Christi. At the Dems' do in Fort Worth, he made light of Vice President Dick Cheney's February shooting of a hunting pal with references to Cheney's defense of Bush, his student deferments that let him avoid the draft during the Vietnam conflict and past delays in protecting U.S. troops in Iraq.

"There are a few details the mainstream media missed," Garcia said of the South Texas mishap. "For example, very few people know that before the vice president shot Mr. (Harry) Whittington, he actually tortured him for an hour and a half.

"You might not know that the vice president . . . was actually signed up to take the mandatory hunter safety course, but he took five deferments to avoid going.

"And perhaps most tragically of all, you might not know that before the trip, Mr. Whittington had actually requested body armor and Kevlar but had been turned down by (Defense) Secretary (Donald) Rumsfeld."

But seriously: Garcia sees Democrats as Davids poised to slay GOP Goliaths this fall. Voters are skeptical of promised cuts in school taxes, he said this week, and some are stunned that Republican leaders have yet to require that all legislative votes be recorded.

"People get that," he said. "We're going to hold (House) members accountable.