The Bill White-a-Palooza

Sidd Finch didn't get this much positive press, and even he was to have signed with the Mets during the current year. Such is the moth-to-the-porchlight attraction of the Texas media to the campaign of do as I say, not as I do Houston Mayor/Senate aspirant Bill White.

The attraction to White I can understand, for Texas Monthly White is viewed as a return to the Caucasian Dixiecrats that rode herd over the State from the time of reconstruction up until the ascension of Dubya. (When, ironically, almost all of the conservative Texas Democrats jumped ship to the Republican Party and cast off the vestiges of populism that made the State work. [See: Perry, Rick for more]) The Chronicle has a long history of standing by her man even when her man's been trying to yank the welcome mat away from charity groups. Outside of InterLeft support, White's next strongest ally has been ChronBlog. Viewed from that angle This and this makes sense. Another ChronBlog angle is to view this as the journalist-education of new politics writer Joe Holley. After all, a ChronBlog political gig has to involve a man-crush on White. Were we given access to their employment contracts I'm sure it'd be in the fine print somewhere.

From all accounts Bill White is a likable guy who enjoys occasionally cursing at the hired help. Something that places him in the wheelhouse of great Southern Democrats such as Lyndon B. Johnson and...well.....um...(I'd say Rahm Emmanuel but he's not really Southern is he?) All Bill White is really lacking is a "Great Society" style legislative package for America. Unfortunately for him, Obama has stolen the LBJ thunder and is currently letting Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid dump a big ol' sack of incompetence all over it.

This poses a small problem for White, who is now going to have to dust off Safe Clear, Houston Hope and the Mobility Response Team, otherwise known as "slackers on scooters" before they got Dolcefinoed into productivity, in his pitch to voters. Then there's the whole Kay Bailey Hutchison factor. Will she or won't she jump-ship eventually and push her stack all-in to a gubernatorial race where she's probably not going to escape the primary? Because, if/when KBH loses to Perry, why would she have any interest in giving up her cushy D.C. office so that someone else can move in and order new drapes?

In short: She won't. Which is why I think she won't be leaving the Senate any time soon and why she might even decide to run for a fourth term in 2012. If recent history is any indication, she'll run, win the race, and then resign 2 months after she's sworn in thus allowing a Rick Perry to appoint whatever Republican recently got shoved out of office by the voters into that seat to fill the unexpired term, or until a 2014 Special depending on the timing.

What none of the news stories has the guts to say is what every Texas Democrat is thinking: "Please, please Mayor White, in the name of all that's progressive and holy (and by holy we mean in the non-exclusive, non-religious, non-judgmental sense) please stop chasing KBH's coattails and throw your hat in the ring where it could do our Party some good. Please run for Governor."



ADDENDUM: "My Pal"...is that anything like My Buddy?

The Noise Machine (11/20/09)

It's a free-for-all.

It seems that Gene Locke "hearts" Mary Benton and can't stand Texas Watchdog...Stay Tuned. (BlogHouston is predicting a Locke Tax Return release on Wednesday @ 4:30 in the afternoon, which is the Thanksgiving week equivilent of a Friday evening press release -news the candidates wish to sweep under the rug-) HCA is throwing it's wager behind 5:00 PM, after most people have left town or have started cooking turkeys.

He who hesitates is lost....to the tune of $82 Million dollars.

Dumb move.


Yeah, OK, Gene Locke's wife is the bee's knees, but is she a ChronBlog Dim BrightBulb? Because until she is count us as less than impressed.

Hey, Roy...can you spare a few thousand voters?

So Houston voters waited a week for this? (More importantly: Can we get a refund?)

The Noise Machine (11/19/09)

Thor's Day special edition....

The ChronBlog provides coverage of the stimulus mess without giving so much as a nod to the non-profit news organizations that got to the story earlier, and have provided more in-depth coverage. (Re-hashes of 'olds' hearken back to the Washington bureau days of old, welcome back folks!)


For the next two years we will control all that you see and hear. (And if you don't do it our way, we'll threaten your funding. Got it?)


Brandi Grissom and Matt Stiles of the Texas Tribune co-auther a nice piece on the downside of short-term, high-interest loans. (Back when usury laws were enforced, these would have never gotten off the ground.)


The easy framing of the Farouk Shami Gubernatorial campaign is to focus on his Muslim name and the recent Fort Hood shootings. Not surprisingly, ChronBlog's R.G. Ratcliffe chose that path in his obligatory story today. A more in-depth analysis might note that the early chatter coming from the InterLeft is focusing on his Republican ties moreso than his Palestinian ties. (Then again, we're talking about ChronBlog)


I'm not a death penalty opponent, I see a use for the punishment in certain cases. That being said, I feel that Texas is a State that over-applies the statute in many cases. This is one of them. Commute the sentance already.


It's always funny when the media botches a story, and then starts finger-pointing after the fact. "Connecting the dots in hindsight" being a particular specialty of the ChronBlog Caucasian Think-Tank


What's that? It's a jitney.


How can we miss you if you won't go away? *Kidding...database crashes are a royal bitch*


Yeah...but can they force me to drive a GM? That's where I draw the line