I’ve updated my early vote spreadsheet from the first round to include the early vote totals for the runoff. Note that this is almost entirely City of Houston – there are a few Bellaire voters in there, and maybe a stray HISD Trustee vote or two from outside the city limits, but for the most part, it’s all municipal. Note also the smaller number of locations. Overall, that’s a pretty good total for Day One, especially given the crappy weather. I don’t know if that will continue, but it’s a good start. Do bear in mind that I believe a substantial number of voters will vote early, so don’t make too much of these totals just yet.
It’s interesting to note the Mayoral candidates’ positions on turnout, as expressed by them on a KHOU story during the five o’clock news. I can’t find the link, but basically Parker talks about turning out her voters, while Locke says that turnout “may surprise you”. In other words, they both seem to agree with the conventional wisdom that lower turnout benefits Parker, while higher turnout benefits Locke.
There was also a story about Locke’s current attack ad on Parker, and Parker’s promise to respond in kind. Honestly, I don’t feel like getting into any of that. I don’t know that too many minds are going to be changed by such tactics; it’s more a matter of who you can spur to turn out, and who you can discourage from doing so. Of more interest to me is this.
Locke said he is refraining from “divisive campaigning,” adding, “I am not going to go into issues of race, issues of sexuality.” He said he is asking his supporters to follow his lead in their own public statements because these topics are distractions from important issues such as public safety and creating new jobs in Houston.
When I pressed Locke about whether he would accept or reject Hotze’s endorsement, he repeated the statement. My colleague Bradley Olson reported Nov. 13 that Locke had met with Hotze and sought his endorsement.
Pretty much what I expected. How can you reject something you actively sought out? I’m going to echo the comment John left, which sums up my feelings quite well.
When this race began, I looked at Brown, Locke, and Parker and saw it as a can’t-lose situation for the city. Although I supported Parker from the start, I thought that if she didn’t lose, we’d have a good mayor anyway. But I must say that I have lost enormous amounts of respect for Mr. Locke as this has played out.
Does he think that a Hotze endorsement is what will get him over the finish line? I think that’s a foolish idea, and all he’s doing it raising doubts among those of us who never had those doubts before. And that makes me wonder about his judgment in general.
I think he’s just handling it terribly… and his record is good enough that it’s painful to watch.
It’s a sad thing watching a good man do such bad things to win an election. But he did them, and he owns them. I hope he thinks it was worth it. PDiddie, Stace, and Nancy Sims have more.
Too bad you don’t mention that the same is true of Parker. A good woman doing bad things to win an election.
When Locke was attacked as a misogynist and sexist, in a detailed solicitation of Democrat voters, she responded with “those are valid questions about his character.” Wow. Funny how I never read a single pro-Parker blogger question that one.
And the sports stadiums that Parker supported for years and years. Suddenly, they are “failed deals” and “taxpayers were lied to”. Parker never raised any questions about those deals, and she is lying about the details when she now, suddenly, attacks them because her opponent did the lawyering.
And when the police endorsed Locke, she lashed out (as she often does — just ask anyone who’s gotten on the other side of her) and threatened the union president. That never gets mentioned by the bloggers either. Or contrasted with Locke, who continues to support same-sex benefits even though the GLBT PAC didn’t endorse him (funny how he didn’t say “you better hope she wins” to the GLBT president…).
I don’t like the Hotze stuff either, and every day and go back and forth between Parker and Locke, as I did during the general election (and I may vote for a different one here in the runoff).
But frankly, the Parker supporters seem to have become the more vicious ones, willing to tear down a good man, much more deliberately than the “handling it terribly” stuff that Locke has done. I don’t know why Locke is doing this — he’d be taking a huge paycut, submitting himself to all this bs… It’s no wonder that so many people don’t think any of the really good people every run for office.