...And the rest

Today we get to meet the low profile candidates in this year's Mayoral race. It's quite a collection.

Come Jan. 1, Houston will have a new mayor.

It will not be Anthony Dutrow, Douglas Robb, Jack Terence, Ralph Ullrich or John WorldPeace.

That much is known.

Dutrow is the Socialist Workers' Party candidate and the only one of the five that I'm certain had announced a candidacy prior to the filing deadline. There were two who had announced but did not file. Annoyingly, both of them participated in the one candidates' forum that I got to attend. The only way their participation could have been a bigger waste of time was for them to ultimately not run.

Anyway, you may recall John WorldPeace from his 2002 gubernatorial campaign. Jack Josey Terence, also known as Jailbird, has run for Mayor before, on the same ballot as "The Outlaw Josey Wales IV". I thought the two might have been the same person, but apparently not. Luis Ralph Ullrich has run for Mayor before, but other than a citation in a ten-year-old copy of the U of Houston Daily Cougar which says he's also known as "Ralph the Plumber", I couldn't find anything interesting about him. I could find nothing about Douglas Robb or Veronique Gregory, either.

In my Copious Spare Time, I'd love to interview some of these people to get a better feel for why they do this. The article hints at some of the reasons, such as a desire to get a message out and a belief they can actually win, but there's only so much you can cover in an overview like this. It could be very enlightening, or it could be a complete trip down the rabbit hole, I don't know. I just think someone ought to find out.

Oh, and on a side note, a pet peeve of mine. From the article:

To call them campaigns of ideas is apropos, as there seems to be little else in the way of traditional electioneering and fund raising.

Argh. Here's the definition of "apropos" from Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: 1ap·ro·pos
Pronunciation: "a-pr&-'pO, 'a-pr&-"
Function: adverb
Etymology: French à propos, literally, to the purpose
Date: 1668

1 : at an opportune time : SEASONABLY
2 : by way of interjection or further comment: with regard to the present topic

"Apropos" does not mean "appropriate". It's not even an adjective. Please don't make me grind my teeth by using it inappropriately. That is all.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on October 23, 2003 to Election 2003 | TrackBack