GregsOpinion.com

Via Kuff, comes the latest reporting on the race for Houston mayor. The Houston Press cover story catches my attention for two things ... one, it's pretty substantive on his background. Secondly, it looks like they tried to find the dirt, but came up empty ... unlike the Michael Berry peice in which people were crawling all over themselves to talk about the guy.

Kuff accurately points out that anyone who can get an ex-wife and investor who's lost a million bucks on one of White's investments to speak nothing but praise has to have something going for him. More importantly, based on reading hte article, is the fact that Bill seems to have grown very comfortable in campaign mode. There are still hints of naivete that many of the Houston progressives sometimes fall victim to, but somehow, they seem a bit more tempered and realistic with White.

That Houstonians, to some degree, are averse to the encroaching partisanship of city elections is a trend that will likely continue as long as the county parties (particularly the GOP) wish to keep pushing the envelope. Whether its enough to fight the trend or not is something that remains to be seen, however.

Kuff also comments on the nastiness of the final TV debate as reported in the Chron. Kinda sorry I missed that in favor of Freddy vs Jason, but apparently, it seems they were a lot alike in tone. No shock that the fighting took place as it was reported, with much of the action between White & Sanchez and Turner getting left out of all the reindeer fun.

I'll be curious to see how Turner does in African American precincts outside of his NW Houston district. I think the excitement level for his campaign in those regions will be what dictates whether or not he's got a surprise up his sleeves on 11/4. Similarly, how White does in the swing precincts will be worth watching (note: if I ever locate the city returns online, I'll crunch Lee Browns total's as well as Chris Bell's).

The irony for me, is that I'll be busy as all hell on election day. Itinerary is as follows:

9am - wake up and vote
1pm - Aeros hockey game downtown
10pm - Stryper reunion show @ The Engine Room

How to kill about 6 hours downtown to avoid driving all over the place, I do not yet know. Maybe I'll see what's playing at Angelika.

ELECTION UPDATE: So much for Terry McConn continuing on in the same moderate GOP fashion as the other District F predecessors: a recent mailer arrives in my mailbox with a big fat honkin endorsement from State Senator Kyle Janek. The Janek deal presumes a bit of institutional support in the form of money and other backing that may still mean a three way race between McConn, Kahn, & Wesley. Right now, I'm leaning towards Khan and Wesley to pull it out, as Khan has the backing of the county GOP.

ELECTION ENDORSEMENTS:
Final endorsement roster from GO is as follows:
Mayor: Bill White
Controller: Annise Parker
At Large #1: Brian Wozniak
At Large #2: Gordon Quan
At Large #3: Peter Brown
At Large #4: Sue Lovell
At Large #5: Dwight Boykins
District A: Toni Lawrence
District B: Carol Galloway
District C: Mark Goldberg
District D: Ada Edwards
District E: Addie Wiseman
District F: Derrick Wesley
District G: Pam Holm
District H: Adrian Garcia
District I: Carol Alvarado

In the case of Adrian Garcia vs Diana Martinez in Dist. H, I'm making that call based not on the negative crap that people are spreading about Diana, but I am basing it on the fact that I was never fond of her husband, Roman Martinez. So make of it what you will.

At Large #1 is a toughie because I've seen Andrew Burks become a better candidate with each election he enters, and he nearly knocked off Shelly Keeton Rylander Sekula-Gibbs two years ago. It's the toughest race for me to make a choice on, but I've been impressed with what I've seen on Woz and the Chron endorsement carries a bit of weight when its that close.

Comptroller is likewise a toughie. I've got a few contacts with the Mark Lee camp and they're strong enough for me to normally use that as a proxy for how to vote. But Annise Parker has always been one that I've been impressed with for the most part and considering the race comes down to her and either Gabe Vasquez or Bruce Tatro, I've got to opt out of the Nader-esque option, although I could come back to Parker in a runoff, which there most surely will be. I'm deciding to cast a vote to get Parker as close to 50 as quick as possible, though.

The same connection mentioned above is generally enough to put Dwight Boykins over Beulah Shephard for my pick on At Large #5. Boykins seems to be of a similar make as the man who's leaving that office: Carroll Robinson, and that's good enough for me.

The races where there's no realistic chance for either a Democrat or a sane Democrat to win, I've pretty much stuck with the devils I know or the least offensive Republican I can find on the list. I know damn well I can only vote in one district and I'm nowhere near presumptuous enough to assume my endorsing anyone means squat, but so what.