Harris County Democratic Party Election Night Watch and Victory Party, beginning as soon as the polls close (7:00 p.m.), at the Sheraton Houston Brookhollow Hotel, 3000 North Loop West. Co-hosted by Congressmembers Gene Green, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Al Green, Harris County Commissioner Sylvia R. Garcia, State Representative Alma Allen, Justice of the Peace Armando V. Rodriguez, and candidates Mark McDavid, Jim Sharp, Herb Ritchie, William Connolly, Leora T. Kahn, Andrew C. Burks, Jr., and Alfred Valdez.
Barbara Radnofsky: Join us at Maria Selma restaurant, 1619 Richmond, Houston 77006 beginning at 7 pm, or online for the webcast.
Chris Bell: Everyone is invited to the Election Night Party of the Chris Bell for Governor campaign, in the Discovery Center Room at the Intercontinental Hotel, 2222 W. Loop South, Houston, TX 77027, starting at 7:00 p.m. For more information contact Katelyn Patterson at 713 524 0009.
Jim Henley: Join us for the Victory Party at El Meson in the Rice Village at 2425 University Blvd., starting immediately after the polls close.
Kristi Thibaut: E-Night Victory Party, 7:30 - 10 pm. Campaign headquarters - 10620 Westheimer. For further information contact 713-978-7701.
Chad Khan: Victory Party for Texas House District 126. Joining Chad is Gary Binderim, Democrat for CD-02. 7:30 to 12AM. Lazeeza Restaurant, 3991 FM 1960 W, Houston, TX 77061. Wireless available for blogging!
Diane Trautman: "Out with the Crabb--In with the Trout!" Victory Party 7:30PM, at the Homewood Suites, 23300 US Hwy. 59 in Kingwood, TX 77339.
James G. Pierre: Victory Party at the Red Hat Jazz Cafe, 924 Congress in downtown Houston (just off the Metro light rail Preston stop), 7:00 pm - until ?
During the early voting period just completed, the city of Houston offered free flu shots to people at selected locations. This was challenged by the Harris County Republican Party, which claimed through their chairman Jared Woodfill that it was a "scheme" to get Democrats to the polls. Mayor Bill White promptly ceased the program.
One of the vile local conservative blogs -- this is the only hint I'm giving -- quoted Jesus out of context from Matthew 26:11: "the poor be with ye always".
This rankles me on several levels:
1. I could simply note that the Harris County branch of US Hezbollah, also known as the Republican Party, is as sorry as Satan regarding this matter and leave it at that, but I won't.
2. Bill White is a bigger coward than John Kerry for rolling over on this. I hereby declare my support for whomever happens to be White's Democratic primary opponent when he runs for higher office.
3. The biblical quotation is not only out of context but incomplete as well. Anyone with a passing familiarity with the Holy Scriptures -- that barely describes me, incidentally -- can easily figure out that Jesus wasn't contradicting his many statements about the poor being blessed, the meek inheriting the Earth, that people should not covet earthly possessions and in fact should sell them, that the moneychangers were sinful, that the wealthy have almost no chance of entering heaven, and so on. Michael Dawson does a much better job of dissembling this atrocious rationale.
I don't go to church, I hardly even believe in a higher authority, but I sure know an Elmer Gantry when I hear him.
What the Harris County Republican Party managed to pull off this week is absolutely NOT what Jesus would have done. But that won't stop them from wallowing happily in the stench of their hypocrisy like pigs in s***.
I'm covering two topics in this diary, because there is big news - Ted Ankrum has been endorsed by General Wesley Clark! I'm going to paste the official press release below, but this is very impressive to me - that a fromer serious contender for the White House has taken notice of this race. I've said a thousand times that this seat is one we can take away from the Republicans, and for someone like General Clark to take the time to endorse in this race shows that I'm not alone in thinking so.
I'm also continuing my presentation of Mr. Ankrum's views, with his paper on corruption. In this entry, he talks about the culture of cronyism that has developed in this administration. Given his history of standing up to people like Tom DeLay, shown in videos linked in this diary, http://www.dailykos.com/... I trust him to stand up to the corruption we see in Washington right now.
(This is pretty cool. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
The PBS program NOW, recently came to Central Texas looking for election stories where the war in Iraq might impact Congressional races. They interviewed John last week, as well as Democrat Mary Beth Harrell. Mary Beth is running in Congressional District 31, against Republican incumbent John Carter. That district includes Fort Hood and the District 31 race, was the focus of the PBS TV program that aired Friday Nov. 3rd, entitled "Sway the Course".
The Austin American Statesman published an article today on Lamar Smith's chances of becoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, should the Republican Party remain in control of the U.S. House. Similar to the fawning editorial piece that Arnold Garcia wrote a couple of weeks ago, the Statesman seems to be shoring up their support for Lamar Smith's entrenched 20 year career. No secret that they delivered their endorsement to Smith, but this article timed to hit undecided voters before the November 7th election, seems to be another attempt to prop up Smith. While their headline on the article reads "Smith in line to take over House Judiciary Committee" the link to the story on the AAS website actually read "Smith's star is rising" this morning. Tell me that's not editorial promotion.
Smith has contributed more than $400,000 this year to the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Since Oct. 1, he's given another $66,000 to fellow House Republicans who find themselves in tighter-than-expected races, such as Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., and Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Smith also has given last-minute pushes to Texas newcomers Van Taylor and Shelley Sekula-Gibbs. Taylor is challenging Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, and Sekula-Gibbs is trying to win former Majority Leader Tom DeLay's seat.
According to Dr. Rausch, “(t)he site will have a series of exit poll links with different surveys for Randall and Potter counties, Amarillo, Canyon and for people outside of Randall and Potter counties. The surveys will include questions about property tax freeze initiatives and the changes to the Amarillo City Commissionas well as questions about the Texas gubernatorial elections.”
The links have been active since early voting started on October 23. I urge all across Texas to go here and take the exit poll. Let’s help Dr. Rausch see how well they work and how accurate they are. Make sure, though, if you are in Potter or Randall Counties, that you take the polls specific to your region.
(You have voted 4 times on-line, have you voted yet in real life? - promoted by Matt Glazer)
On behalf of Team Courage, and from the bottom of my own heart, I want to say THANK YOU to the blogosphere, the Netroots, and all of the voters who helped me win another online victory yesterday. At 7:01 p.m. EST, we learned that we were one of the three winners in John Kerry's PAC's "3 at the Buzzer" poll. Along with my fine Democratic colleagues, Senate candidate Jim Webb and congressional candidate Dan Seals, we are honored to have garnered the most online votes in the field of 17 Netroots candidates, terrific challengers all.
The prize is to be featured in Sen. Kerry's final fundraising email of this election season. With more than 3 million email recipients in his list, Sen. Kerry can give us a major boost at this critical point in the campaign.
(A great summary of everything in the extended entry! - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
The Austin American-Statesman reports on Greg Abbott's misuse of state resources with an appropriately misleading headline. They manage to get the story right, however (bold emphasis mine throughout):
(Cross-posted from DK -- taking every opportunity I can to get Ted's name out there)
Here is the position paper by Ted on the issue of the living wage. I'll say it again (& again & again) - this is a great candidate with great ideas, who can take away a Rethug seat. Really. (here's my disclaimer - I don't work for Ted, I live in the district that is "represented" by Michael McCaul) Here's my next congressman's really great ideas on this issue:
Living Wage
What kind of a country do you want to live in? Do you want to live in a Country with people standing on street corners with signs "will work for food"? Do you want to live in a Country where it is better for a father to abandon his children, so that they can get welfare? Do you want to live in a Country that is being overrun by illegal immigrants living twelve to a room because it's own citizens refuse to be exploited with a minimum wage that is practically "slave wages"?
(This ad was originally over a minute long and the struggle was to get at least one ad on the air before the election. Now the Courage Campaign has raised over $325,000 and the question is how long can this new 30 second ad stay on the air. Check it out and keep it on air! - promoted by Matt Glazer)
