Rick Perry vs World

31 October 2006

Money, Money, Money! (Final edition)

Who's got how much money left for the final stretch. As of Saturday, September 28th, the candidates had this much:

Perry $2.9 million
Strayhorn $0.42 million
Bell $0.08 million
Friedman $0.54 million

A huge cash advantage for Perry, even after Bell received his millions from trial lawyer John O'Quinn.

If you're one of those people who thinks it matters how much the candidates raised over the last month, then here are those numbers: Perry $2.6 million, Bell $2.8 million (including the $1 million dollar loan from O'Quinn and the $1 million O'Quinn donation), Strayhorn $0.58 million, Friedman $1.1 million.

In other words, Bell started burning through cash like there was no tomorrow, when in fact there's about a week of tomorrows. Strayhorn hasn't been able to raise any money, because folks realize she self-destructed her campaign during the summer. And Friedman has actually learned to conserve a little money, after that horrendous burn rate he had going on early in the campaign.

Posted by Evan @ 10/31/06 07:39 PM | Comments (0)

Drew Brees to Mom: Stop trading on my name

What's your problem, Mom? Gosh! [/Napoleon Dynamite]

New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees is upset with his mom, an Austin Democrat running to be a judge, for using his name:

The NFL quarterback and Westlake High School graduate has told Mina Brees, an Austin attorney, to stop using his picture in TV commercials as she runs for a spot on Texas' 3rd Court of Appeals, saying their relationship is now "nonexistent" after souring six years ago.

"I think the major point here is that my mother is using me in a campaign, and I've made it known many times I don't want to be involved," he said Monday.

The New Orleans Saints player said he is speaking out now because she did not acknowledge previous requests to keep him out of the campaign.

It's actually a pretty sad story.

Posted by Evan @ 10/31/06 07:06 PM | Comments (0)

A perfect storm

Lots of pundits have been writing about how the multiple candidate field has guaranteed Rick Perry's victory.

I don't really agree. Seems to me like this is the perfect storm of something that could beat Perry. Of course, it's still not going to happen, but, y'know...

In a two candidate race, there'd have been only one candidate attacking Perry. Instead of the 3 candidates getting headlines all summer blasting Perry, it would've simply been one. That means that Perry's personal and job approval numbers would be higher.

That's not to say there isn't a strong anti-Perry vote out there. Of course there is. But some folks seem to think that most everyone who doesn't vote for Perry in this 5 person race would've voted for Perry's opponent if this were only a two candidate race. I doubt it. Highly. Perry and his team are excellent at drawing contrasts. They'd have spent all summer defining the Democrat.

So actually, I think this is the Democrats' best chance. They've had the arrows of Kinky Friedman and Carole Strayhorn aimed at Perry for over a year, while Bell has managed to skate through largely unmarred until now. Bell may be unknown but he hasn't been defined until recently, and that's pretty much the best any Democrat can ask for in this state right now.

UPDATE: Welcome Chron.com Opinion readers, and welcome Yahoo AP readers. Click here for the main page of the blog. This blog started out covering just the gubernatorial race here in Texas, but know covers Texas politics at large.

Posted by Evan @ 10/31/06 09:16 AM | Comments (3)

A note on the poll results from yesterday

As pointed out in the comments by Ryan Goodland, the Chron CD 22 poll actually shows Shelley 8% behind Lampson, not 1%.

Frankly, I still think the poll overstates Shelley's strength. And the Chron's write-up of the poll is pretty irresponsible. I mean, I know local journalists like to make the horserace close and all, but the article makes it sound much closer than it is.

Posted by Evan @ 10/31/06 12:32 AM | Comments (1)

Funniest radio ad of the year so far

Rick Perry's radio ad on Chris Bell is pretty funny. A knockoff of the "Real Men of Genius" ads, it made me laugh and I was impressed at how many issues they managed to cram into one ad.

Announcer: Presenting...

Singer: Real Washington liberals

Announcer: Today we salute you, Mr. Way Too Liberal for Texas Guy

Singer: Mr. Way Too Liberal for Texas Guy!

Announcer: Only you, Chris Bell, could vote for higher taxes ten times in congress, and despite a record state surplus, run for governor on a platform of raising taxes.

Singer: This ain't Taxachusetts!

Chorus: Taxachusetts!

Announcer: Congressman Bell, only you could vote to make it hard to deport terrorists then support sanctuary for illegal immigrants so the law can't ask a person's legal status.

Singer: Don't ask, don't tell!

Announcer: And you voted to let the United Nations oversee elections in America because no one stands up for democracy like the French.

Singer: Je m'appelle Christophe Bell! (My name is Chris Bell)

Announcer: So wear your fancy beret with pride, Congressman Bell...liberals everywhere salute you.

Singer: Mr. Way Too Liberal for Texas Guy

Chorus: Ooh la la

You can listen to it here. You know, once upon a time Chris Bell was running as the de facto Republican candidate for mayor. Then he started a steady slide leftward that continues to this day, and he's been campaigning for governor with a pretty left-ward bent. He certainly hasn't pushed back at being called a liberal.

The ironies of this campaign makes me smile.

Posted by Evan @ 10/31/06 12:24 AM | Comments (4)

Big guns coming in -- W, John Kerry, Bill Clinton

The big guns are coming to town. It's 04 re-do.

Bush:

The president is shifting to full-time campaign mode next week and plans two Texas stops – Sugar Land on Monday, where he'll appear with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and U.S. House candidates, and Reunion Arena in Dallas a week later to lend a hand to the governor and other statewide candidates.

"I'm looking forward to campaigning for Governor Perry, who I strongly support. I'm looking forward to saying positive things about my friend Senator Hutchison," he said.

John Kerry:

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry lent his support Friday to a fellow Democrat in Texas.

Kerry appeared with gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell in downtown Austin to give him his support and discuss the issues important to the election.

"Twenty-five percent of its citizens have no health care at all. That's about 5.6 million citizens of Texas. That's just wrong. We're the only country in the world, and this is the only state in the nation that treats that many children and that many adults that way," Kerry said.

Nothing like having one of the most liberal people in the Senate come down to campaign for you.

Oh wait, yes there is: Bill Clinton taped a radio ad for Chris Bell. They couldn't even an appearance, or a TV spot, so I guess radio is the best Texas Democrats can do.

All three things are designed to boost Republican turnout. Heh.

Posted by Evan @ 10/31/06 12:10 AM | Comments (0)

30 October 2006

Great copy, AP

AP:

"There are a lot of people out there ... who think that the color of your skin dictates your political philosophy," Bonilla said. "And that's the greatest insult that you could inflict on any American, regardless of their ethnic background."

Ethnicity is an issue in the campaign for the massive 23rd Congressional District - it stretches from south San Antonio to the Mexican border and west to the eastern edge of El Paso - in part because Texas Republicans made it one.

Bonilla's former district had been drawn in a 2003 redistricting plan engineered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to improve the chances of GOP candidates. However, courts later ruled that by splitting into two congressional districts Webb County, which includes the 94 percent Hispanic city of Laredo, the plan unfairly diluted Hispanic voting strength.

Yeah, gee, protecting a Latino Congressman. How terribly racist of the Republicans. Clearly they were making ethnicity a campaign issue.

Posted by Evan @ 10/30/06 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

Bush in Sugar Land

The President came down to Sugar Land today. We get a full one line of reportage on what he said from the Chron.

Posted by Evan @ 10/30/06 11:12 PM | Comments (0)

Friedman on Friday's Letterman

Chron:

Friedman is taping his segment for Letterman's CBS program Monday, and it is scheduled to air on Nov. 3, said campaign spokeswoman Laura Stromberg.

"We just hope a lot of Texas voters are going to be watching," she said. "Being on David Letterman three days before Election Day couldn't possibly hurt."

Putting candidates on TV right before election day is awfully like a corporate campaign contribution. Of course, under McCain-Feingold, that's okay!

Posted by Evan @ 10/30/06 11:06 PM | Comments (0)

Control

New tentative opinon on control of Congress from me: Democrats take the House with a margin of 3 to 5 seats, and Republicans hold the Senate with 51 or 52.

Just too many bad polls coming out in House races across the country. I haven't been able to devote much time to thinking about it -- I think it's likely that the undecideds at this point are GOP-leaning -- but just too many races out there for Republicans to hold it, I think.

Posted by Evan @ 10/30/06 10:49 PM | Comments (0)

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