Rick Perry vs World

07 May 2007

Apropos my recent Bloomberg post, the NY Sun:

The national director of the Committee to Draft Michael Bloomberg is building a network of volunteers to complement what would undoubtedly be a well-financed campaign for the White House, should the mayor run for president.

Joseph Oddo, a freelance writer, consultant, and five-time candidate for public office, has signed up 100 volunteers in 20 states and hopes to eventually gather 1,000. The recruitment effort has been slow going, but gains momentum with each mention of Mr. Bloomberg as a potential presidential candidate in the press, he said.

Posted by Evan @ 05/07/07 11:34 PM | Comments (0)

Q&A with Brian McCall

DMN has a Q&A with Brian McCall.

In your recent Ph.D. dissertation on Texas governors, you reasoned that our governors have enough power. Why?

It depends upon how realistically they assess the opportunities and how skillfully they exploit them. It was said of a recent weak governor that there were no benefits for being his friend and no consequences for being his enemy. Strong governors create those benefits and consequences.

But we're not a podunk state. How can a governor lead without even being able to appoint a Cabinet?

Our chief executive doesn't lack power. With the ability to appoint Texans to boards and commissions, Rick Perry has already filled every opening in state government. In addition, the governor appoints powerful agency heads, like the person running the Health and Human Services Commission, which has a budget greater than some nations. He also can line-item-veto the budget and stop any bill from becoming law.

The governor may not be as powerful in Texas in say, New Jersey, but I don't think he is nearly as weak as the stereotype.

Posted by Evan @ 05/07/07 11:21 PM | Comments (0)

04 May 2007

Whatever this says

Someone from Spring Branch ISD (in Houston; roughly outside 610 to Beltway 8 north of westside I-10) just visited my blog by searching for "who's the governor of Texas."

I hope regular visitors know the answer to this query.

Posted by Evan @ 05/04/07 02:04 PM | Comments (0)

03 May 2007

I like this game

Post's Reliable Source:

Mike Bloomberg and Chuck Hagel dining together last night at the Palm. The New York mayor had a New York strip steak, the Nebraska senator had wild halibut, and each polished off a glass of merlot and mixed berries for dessert. They were deep in conversation for two hours; since both are mulling presidential bids, who was courting whom?

I leave it to readers to suss the reason for their dinner. Ok, just kidding. But do you think the words Unity '08 were spoken at this dinner?

Posted by Evan @ 05/03/07 12:42 PM | Comments (2)

I'm in my zone.

She must be practicing to run for governor:

Mayor/marathon man Adrian Fenty ran the ACLI Capital Challenge three-miler pretty fast yesterday morning -- 18:47 -- but not fast enough to beat Rep. Bart Gordon's blistering 18:24, besting a field of 23 members of Congress. It was the 18th time the Tennessee Democrat has posted the best time among officeholders in the annual race, which benefits the D.C. Special Olympics. John Thune (R-S.D.) was the fastest of 12 senators. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) was the fastest female rep, while Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) was the fastest female senator -- which is to say she beat the other one in the race along the Anacostia riverfront, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

Our winning senator finished the 5K in 36:14. Her team was named...wait for it...Kaytorade.

Posted by Evan @ 05/03/07 12:34 PM | Comments (0)

Common sense prevails over Orwellian ideas

Lisa Sandberg, on the Chron blog:

The House voted unanimously last night to bar municipalities [HB922] from nabbing speeding drivers with automated devices.

Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, said there's no conclusive evidence that automated devices such as cameras or radar result in fewer road crashes. Moreover, cameras could be used not just to crack down on speeders, but to go after motorists not wearing seat belts or motorists with expired inspection stickers. "At what point do you stop? What does it end?" she said.

Dallas Republican John Carona is the Senate sponsor of the bill.

According to Sandberg, the House almost attached a red-light camera prohibition to the bill as well, but did not because the House feared that then the bill wouldn't pass at all.

It's a shame the Texas Senate apparently doesn't have many civil libertarians.

Posted by Evan @ 05/03/07 12:21 PM | Comments (0)

(Texas) Hold'em

On Tuesday, the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee passed HB 3186 out of committee by a vote of 6-2. Sponsored by San Antonio Democrat Jose Menendez, the bill would legalize poker -- under the regulation of the Texas Lottery Commission -- at horse tracks and four tables at non-horse tracks. So, Texans would be able to play Texas Hold'em again.

Chuck Blount of SAEN got Texas Poker PAC leader Mike Lavigne on the phone to talk about the bill's chances:

Lavigne says the move by the Texas House to move for a vote next week is good news.

"The bills typically don't make it out of the subcommittees and see the floor unless they have a good shot at getting passed," he said.
Lavigne reports that his organization has received word of 60-65 commitments from Texas lawmakers that favor the bill, with only 35 firm "no" votes. That leaves approximately 55 votes up in the air, with only 15-20 needed to get to the magic number of 76 needed to pass the bill.

"(The bill) is very much alive," Lavigne said.

Is the Speaker one of the "no" votes?

Anyway, I thought of this because of today's front-page Wall Street Journal article.

Four-time poker champion Howard Lederer makes a plush living playing cards. His scholarly calm at the table has earned him the title "The Professor," along with $3.3 million in tournament prize money.

Just don't call him lucky. To describe poker as anything but a game of skill, he says, "is just wrong."

Now poker fans in academe are jumping in to help prove that point, most recently with a daylong "strategy session" at the Harvard Faculty Club bringing together poker pros like Mr. Lederer, game theorists, statisticians, law students and gambling lobbyists.

The skill debate has been a preoccupation in poker circles since September, when Congress barred the use of credit cards for online wagers. Horse racing and stock trading were exempt, but otherwise the new law hit any "game predominantly subject to chance." Included among such games was poker, which is increasingly played on Internet sites hosting players from all over the world.

By making the case for poker as a skill, aficionados hope to roll back the law, and even win the game newfound freedoms in states where wagering on poker is currently banned.

In the short-run, poker results are often about luck (to varying degrees...different games have different mathematical mixes between luck and skill, in the short-term). In the long run, poker results are solely about skill.

Posted by Evan @ 05/03/07 12:07 PM | Comments (0)

01 May 2007

Plus, a Sosa quote

Ken Mehlman, in the Politico:

Last year, pollster David Winston asked registered voters to rate themselves on a 1 to 9 scale from very liberal to very conservative. He found that, overall, the country was center-right and Hispanic-Americans viewed themselves slightly to the right of the country as a whole.

Also, this bit:

Salsa outsells ketchup and tacos outsell hot dogs.

Sometimes, change is good.

Posted by Evan @ 05/01/07 11:12 PM | Comments (0)

Go and brush your shoulder off

AP:

Governor Rick Perry says he believes Texans should be allowed to carry their concealed handguns anywhere. That's the Republican's conclusion after pondering how to stop the kind of mass killing that left 33 dead at Virginia Tech.

Under current law, secured airport areas, hospitals, courthouses, bars, churches and schools are among the places where weapons can be banned. That's even if someone has a state license to carry a concealed handgun.

Can you imagine the shrieks of hysteria that would've accompanied this statement once upon a time? Now it's pretty mainstream.

Posted by Evan @ 05/01/07 03:11 PM | Comments (2)

You might know him as Clark

Chron society column:

U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, looking particularly fit after last month's open heart surgery, lunching Thursday at La Griglia, which was packed with notables. The crowd included auto dealer and Metro Board member George DeMontrond, Fulbright & Jaworski partner Richard Huff, City Council candidate Melissa Noriega, Continental Airlines' Nene Foxhall and marketing specialist Cindy Clifford.

...

Former Houston Texans quarterback David Carr watching the Astros win at Minute Maid Park Saturday as guest of former President George Bush.

Classy guy, that George Bush.

I'll leave it to readers to suss the purpose of Lampson's lunch. [Who do you think you are, Mark Halperin? -- ed.]

Posted by Evan @ 05/01/07 01:43 PM | Comments (4)

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