That's right, Jorgie. This one's for you. After gleefully pronouncing various Democrat campaigns to be on "LIFE SUPPORT," and being dead wrong every single time (remember the time or times you make those silly proclamations about Bill White? Ha... aha ha... ahahahahaha... Good times...), it turns out it's YOUR candidate who's on life support. Further, it turns out it's some of his biggest supporters breaking the news. Ain't irony a b****? This is excerpted from Tim Fleck's Insider column in today's Press: http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/2003-11-13/insider.html/1/index.html Mayoral contender and former councilman Orlando Sanchez came in second behind front-runner Bill White, but the real shocker was his poor performance in Latino neighborhoods. Whereas Sanchez had carried a majority of Hispanic voters in his losing 2001 runoff against Lee Brown, an Insider survey of eight key precincts in last week's election showed a dramatic reversal. In Magnolia Park's Box 11, Sanchez had beaten Brown by 294 to 183, a 63 percent majority. Last week Bill White took the same precinct 279 to 160, a 58 percent majority for the leader. Likewise, in Denver Harbor's Precinct 560, a Sanchez majority of 77 percent over Brown was reversed with White receiving 127 votes to 103 for Sanchez. Sanchez carried only two of the key precincts surveyed. "The Hispanic community figured out that Orlando is a Republican," analyzes Varoga. "I think the Republican outreach effort to Hispanics has a lot of explaining to do," agrees Marc Campos, who worked for Sylvester Turner's mayoral campaign. As we went to press some big-bucks Sanchez supporters were reportedly chewing over the idea that their candidate might be better off dropping out of the runoff in a unity gesture. If that happened, Orlando would in defeat have made Houston political history. Chronic Overachiever: It's easy to forget now, but as recently as mid-summer most political observers didn't give businessman Bill White much of a chance to make a runoff against opponents Sanchez and Turner. Other candidates have poured millions into their campaigns, but few have ever gotten the bang for the buck that White achieved in leading into next month's runoff. UH's Murray points to Precinct 217's River Oaks Elementary, where White outpolled Sanchez 762 to 510. Murray, who has seen just about everything in his decades of analysis of Houston city elections, is amazed: "A Republican losing one of the most affluent precincts in the city? Jesus!" According to the political scientist, "you rarely see a political plan executed as well as we saw with the White campaign." And momentum creates more momentum. "The only reason for anybody to be for Orlando Sanchez was that he was the front-runner and people thought he had it locked up," says Varoga. "The late train for Bill isn't in December, it's now. And it's leaving Orlando's station."
What a desemation. Six months ago, people were asking, "Bill who?" Really tremendous campaign run by White. Maybe even more surprising is the unreal showing by Annise Parker in the controller race. Either that or Ronald Green getting the endorsement of Paul Bettencourt over Bert Keller who voted against the property tax rollback. Green is an African American democrat.
Ah... the Houston Press. Such a quality periodical. Did you find this article next to the free strip club passes, or was it next to the tattoo parlor ads? Thanks for the bump Jeff, without your attempt to revive this thread, it would have fallen off the first page with no replies and only a handful of views. You express your partisan feelings in such subtle ways...
Yeah, Jeff...you can't post in a thread three hours after it was started. Seriously, Jorge, turn the page. Your "I am an idiot loser" chapter should have ended a while ago.
My hats off to the Latino community for educating themselves on Cubano Sanchez. They voted as I predicted they would once they knew who Sanchez was. Hopefully this will be the last time we hear from him.
No, I just discuss local politics because no one else seems to be interested. I find it interesting. In the aforementioned cases, they were, by far, the most intriguing races of the November elections. The rest basically went as planned. The most interesting race in December will likely be my district (H) where Garcia and Davila-Martinez will probably bloody each other. That will probably be the closest of the others. Frankly, I don't expect Keller to lose to Green, but a good friend of mine works for Green and Green's showing against Keller is indicative of the local GOP's frustration with Keller over his bailing on their tax rollback. The shocking part about the controller race isn't that Parker is going to win - that seemed pretty clear from the outset - but that she almost won in November. That was a pretty dominant performance. Plus, Fleck's points about Gabe Vasquez' mis-cues was discussed by John Williams in the Chronicle. Oh, well, I'm probalby the only one who actually cares and isn't in this just to shove it in your face.
I think you know by now I find Houston politics interesting too, Jeff. And not only to shove it in Jorge's face -- though I readily admit to enjoying that part too. After months of reading that White was Jesse's puppet and that his campaign was on life support, how could I not? But if I didn't care more about politics for their own sake than for the arguments it inspires, I wouldn't even be in this forum. Whether or politics, styles or personalities match at all, I suspect each of us here is more interested in what we're arguing about than simply arguing. Though I no longer live there, I think Bill White will be an especially good mayor of Houston and I'm glad he won. Teasing Jorge is just the cherry on top.
On that source, you know, Tim Fleck has always been a pretty reliable source on local politics. He was the main political writer for the Post until they went under and he took the job with the Press. I don't know him but I know a number of people who do and it appears that he likes the ability to really go after people in the pages of the Press, something he definitely couldn't do with a more mainstream paper. Also, he isn't exactly the biggest supporter of Dems/liberals or their causes either. The guy has blasted more than one candidate/issue from that side of the tracks and with what appeared to be great glee in his heart. Batman: I know you follow local politics. My point to TJ was that I wasn't responding just to mess with him though, as you pointed out, having that as an added benefit isn't a horrible thing.
Why does it always seem like the lesser of two evils is the route to the City Mayors office. Out of the two, i'm sure i'd prefer Sanchez over White, but the guy is just not picture friendly and seems shady when speaking.
Khan: The lesser of two evils thing is hardly exclusive to Houston politics. That said, a hell of a lot of people from both parties (as well as independents) would disagree with that characterization of this race. White voters, by and large, are voting for White, not against Sanchez. He wins every category he's supposed to win and also scores unusually high among Republicans and Latinos. And he won a neighborhood like River Oaks even though Sanchez received unanimous support (albeit very soft support with little financial backing from the GOP, which makes Jorge's current signature all the more funny) from Republican party officials. Can you name any serious reason to dislike White, aside from the fact that he's a Democrat? Speaking of him being a Dem, don't believe the hype -- he's a very moderate one. Talk radio and fellas like Jorge try to paint him a liberal simply because he voted for and worked for Clinton and Gore, but it's a flat misrepresentation of his record and platform which is why so many Republicans enthusiastically support his campaign and dismiss Sanchez out of hand.
I agree with TJ on this one. If you disagree with his position on the issues, you shouldn't vote for him. On the other hand, there have been elections where I held my nose and voted for the guy I disliked the least and I can understand the need to do that as well.
For me, it's been the lesser of two evils in every election I've ever voted in, regardless of the office they are running for. I voted for the first time in 1980.
The latest from the campaign trail... After quiet week, Sanchez, White revive mayoral campaigns By JOHN WILLIAMS Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Political Writer After a quiet week following the first round in Houston's mayoral race, runoff candidates Orlando Sanchez and Bill White showed signs of life Thursday with public events signaling key campaign strategies. Sanchez made a push to connect with anti-tax sentiment in Houston, accusing White of supporting various taxes and fees. Thursday, Sanchez helped a group collect signatures seeking a referendum to reverse the drainage fee that City Council imposed last month. "I'm against any streams of new revenues," Sanchez said. White, meanwhile, worked on making inroads with Houston's African-American population, which gave more than 80 percent of its support to mayoral candidate Sylvester Turner. Turner, a black state representative, placed third in the nine-candidate field Nov. 4. White, an Anglo, announced endorsements by several prominent black elected officials -- including Harris County Commissioner El Franco Lee, state Sen. Rodney Ellis and Fort Bend County Constable Ruben Jones, who plays an important role getting African-Americans to the polls in the Missouri City area. During a news conference Thursday at Mickey Leland Memorial Park, White said he and wife Andrea White were with Leland the night before the congressman left on a 1989 trip to Africa, where he died in a plane crash. "Bill White is no stranger to our community," Lee said. "Before he was old enough to register himself, Bill worked in the civil rights movement of the '60s registering minority voters. "He supports affirmative action in its truest spirit to provide opportunity for those who have been historically denied such opportunities." White led Sanchez 38 percent to 33 percent in the Nov. 4 election when they eliminated Turner and six other candidates. The two square off in a Dec. 6 runoff to replace term-limited Mayor Lee Brown. Until Thursday, both campaigns had kept low profiles since Nov. 4, except for an exchange soon after the election when Sanchez challenged White not to spend more than $1.5 million in the runoff. White, who spent more than $6 million in the first round compared to $2.3 million by Sanchez, declined the offer, saying Sanchez only proposed it because he is in a losing situation where contributors don't want to give money. For much of the time since then, the two candidates have been focusing on raising money and getting their campaigns ready for the sprint to the runoff. Thursday, Sanchez accused White of supporting sources of revenues Sanchez opposes: · Taxes. Sanchez criticized White for not pledging to reduce property taxes next year. · Fees: Sanchez said White recommended the drainage fee in 2001 when he helped advise Mayor Lee Brown on ways to find more money for parks and libraries. · Tolls: Sanchez renewed his campaign accusation that White wants to impose tolls on area thoroughfares like Westheimer. "People are paying more and more taxes and getting fewer and fewer services," Sanchez said. "This has to end." White's campaign responded that Sanchez is twisting White's positions. Campaign manager Michael Moore said White endorses an idea proposed by Harris County Judge Robert Eckels and others of increasing the number of toll roads in the area as a way to finance more highway construction. But White has not suggested putting tolls on thoroughfares like Westheimer or Kirby. "It's an out-and-out lie," Moore said. On the tax charge, White has said that he would cut back spending at City Hall and use the savings either to build up the city's emergency rainy day fund, or to provide a tax rollback. He has said that he never recommended the drainage fee to Brown and that he opposed the drainage fee approved by council last month.
The following is just a joke, if you take it seriously you also probably call soap opera actors by their character's names and hope Bat Boy from the Weekly World News is doing OK in school (cuz kids are so darn cruel): The good news with elections is that I don't even have to read anyting about the issues to cast my vote. I just look at T_J's signature, see who he is backing, and then vote for the other guy!
