Final Call for Houston Elections
Time for the Chron to get in its final updates on the remaining campaigns:
White is selective of which business deals to tout
Sanchez touts his career as public servant to city
To the shock of some, the Chron coverage is actually a bit more favorable to the GOP candidate here (pity, perhaps?). Sanchez gets a few quotes mentioning what an above-average councilman he was, even some praise from Bob Lanier thrown in here (which has to be considered ironic since Sanchez has been slamming Lanier since November). Contrast that with the overall tone of White's peice in which its suggested that he's essentially making a mountain out of a molehill of his business experience. Its academic at this point, though ... the polls are showing White just under 60% with few voters left to decide. If White manages to get the magic 6-0, he's going to have a long honeymoon with voters. Even falling short of that, he'll do ok.
Parker, Tatro in race for Houston city controller
In what could be a much tighter race, Parker & Tatro are rather quietly campaigning away. Not one mailer in my mailbox to know one way or the other what's being said by whom. My hunch is that Parker wins narrowly based on the White steamroller and dispirited nature of some GOP voters. I'd not call it a lock, however. If Parker gets over 53%, I'll be shocked. If she loses, I won't be.
Khan, McConn compete for seat
This race, I would argue, is over. Kahn polled very well in the Democratic areas, with McConn's strongest support coming from four precints in the district. Inside the four most well-off Sharpstown precints, McConn beat Kahn 62%-25%. Outside of that area, Kahn won 40%-33%. The problem for McConn is that the region he's strongest in only accounts for 13% of the district's voters. The Sanchez/White ratios in those areas were: 57-45 Sanchez vs 44-42 White ... Sanchez barely won the district overall, as well (by a 27 vote margin): 39.0%-38.8%. The areas where Turner did best were areas that corresponded to where Khan did his best, despite the difference in party labels. I'd look for a 55-45 win by Khan as he becomes the first Pakistani-born member of City Council. Look for Terry McConn to maybe run against Scott Hochberg for State Rep. in 2004.
Keller, Green in contest for post
Another close race to look forward to, this one could come down to name ID for Keller vs two factors that work for Green: a conservative revolt against Keller and Green's status as the lone African-American male on the ballot (and to potentially serve as councilman). Caught a brief debate on Ch.13 this morning and once more my suspicions that Green is, if anything, a well-spoken credible candidate. I think this one could be even more of a nailbiter than Parker v Tatro, so I don't even know how to call it other than my hope: Green by a hair.
Sekula-Gibbs, Brown vie for office
Also on one of the Ch.13 public affairs shows Sunday morning were these two. First impression: Gawd is Peter Brown the worst possible person to go on TV, or what? Tongue-tied, standoffish, and inarticulate, Brown isn't exactly showing much room to improve on his 25% showing in November. Windbag Gibbs beats Grey-Suit Brown in this one, and Houston is worse off for it.
Daily, Holm running in District G
Another curious race between two GOP candidates, yet in a solidly GOP-friendly district. Daily racked up the endorsements of EVERY single losing November candidate, but I'm not sure how well his Holm-as-liberal charge is going to go. There's a tendency among GOP women to frown upon such charges on one of their own. It may or may not make a difference. I'm not putting a lot on this bet, but I'll go with Daily on a squeaker to make for a come-from-behind win on Saturday. Look for the winner to possibly take a run at Peggy Hamric's State Rep seat if she moves up the political food chain. George Strong disagrees with my prediction on this one.
Back to the Mayoral race, Kuff reports on the Turner "endorsement." About all I really have to add to that is that Turner's little coy routine has now gotten to be considered officially stale. Maybe its time he live up to that pledge to only serve three terms.