Austin Round-Up

by: Karl-Thomas Musselman

Thu Oct 02, 2008 at 04:14 PM CDT

• HD-45: Patrick Rose vs Matt Young

  FYI: On Sunday, Rose hosted his annual barbecue (last year, cycling champion Lance Armstrong was the guest because of their joint fight for cancer research) at which hundreds of supporters boosted his campaign bank account.

  After Sunday's event, Rose added $125,000 to his huge advantage on the money front.

  In July, he had $807,809 to spend; Young had a $27,272 bank balance, plus a $16,000 loan.

  Republican Fundraising Fail.



• HD-50: Mark Strama vs Jerry Mikus, Jr.

  Libertarian Jerry Chandler said he is not fundraising or spending his money to campaign for the job. He said he's running largely to give voters another option at the ballot box.

  Mikus said the incumbent's financial resources will mean little because of the resonance of the Republican's top issues, such as eliminating school property taxes, requiring photo identification to vote and stemming illegal immigration.

  "He may sell himself on the boob tube or in the papers, but I sell myself face-to-face, hand-to-hand," Mikus said. "Votes count. Money doesn't count."

  Strama said that many of the issues Mikus touts, such as voter identification requirements, are not top concerns for most District 50 voters and that Mikus' proposed solutions are unworkable.

  "They care about their property taxes and they care about education," Strama said.

  Republican Message Fail. And who calls it a boob tube anymore?



• HD-52: Diana Maldonado vs Bryan Daniel

  In a strip center off Interstate 35, there's an excitement at the shared headquarters for Williamson County's fledgling Democratic Party and Texas House candidate Diana Maldonado.

  On a recent weekday afternoon, about a dozen party and campaign workers were organizing a revolt of sorts - the first election of a Democrat in this county in a decade.

  Meanwhile, at a campaign office in downtown Round Rock, the mood was more low-key for Maldonado's Republican opponent, Bryan Daniel, who exuded the confidence of a team that thinks it still has home-field advantage.

  Republican Excitement Fail.