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Oh, the sufferings of being a staffer to Council Member Peter Brown. We're told he.. ahem.. asked nicely that two of his staff members get decked out as Barack Obama and John McCain for the entertainment value of City Hall. Yes, everyone had a good laugh! Maybe Brown will give his staffers a treat for the pain and suffering.
Oh, it's the last day of early voting...
Earlier today, 
I had a chance to sit down with Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and the man who wants his job, David Mincberg. The men were at Channel 13's studios participating in the second part of a series of debates. My colleague Art Rascon moderated the debate between Sheriff Tommy Thomas and his challenger, Houston City Council Member Adrian Garcia.
The good thing about Emmett and Mincberg, they're not afraid to take the gloves off, and that always makes for an interesting debate. Mincberg alluded that Emmett wasn't hands-on enough during Hurricane Ike, while Emmett challenged anyone to make that charge after looking at his record.
The two men talked about crime, quality of life, and mass transit, among a number of issues. But the fists really started flying when the question turned to ethics and leadership. Mincberg, the challenger, has been really tough on Emmett in this department. Whether his complaints sound like bad negative campaigning remains to be seen. But, the guy likes props. You'll have to wait until the debate airs to see that little bit of interesting back and forth. Emmett, of course, stood his ground. He's not shy about fighting back, including a somewhat annoyed glance over at Mincberg at certain intervals.
Which one of these candidates came out on top? Tune in this Sunday at 11 a.m. on Channel 13 to find out.
For those of us who have covered Mayor Bill White ever since before he became Mayor, we know he's a very careful politician. Since the Mayor's post is officially non-partisan, he's careful not to endorse candidates, and doesn't like to show up at too many fundraisers.
That's why many at City Hall's eyebrows went up today after Mayor White went off defending Adrian Garcia. First, the references were fairly obtuse.
"We come from different backgrounds, and on occasion disagree," he said during Council session. "But, we don't indulge in personal attacks or bring extraneous attacks to the table most of the time."
By the time we got to the weekly Mayor's press conference, White spoke more directly. He was unhappy with the ad by Sheriff Tommy Thomas recently began airing. In the attack ad, Thomas' campaign says that Garcia admitted to using marijuana "more than 100 times". Apparently, the campaign got it from an HPD application form, and whatever Garcia wrote, he was referring to things he did when he was 16-17 years old.
The Mayor was not happy, and took the unusual step of defending Garcia at his weekly news conference. "I'm not doing endorsements I'm just telling people that I know he's a person of outstanding character, he's been hard working and a great public servant," said White.
"I think people need to stand up for people when people attack their character if they know him."
Garcia tried to stay above the fray, saying he only attacks his opponent's record, and not his personal issues. He also said he was simply being honest about his teenage years, but he doesn't know where the "100 times" reference is coming from.
As for the Sheriff, his campaign is apparently taking a different spin after some of the push back it's received since the ad's roll out. Mainly, the ad is being pulled. Mary Easterly of the Thomas campaign told me over the phone this afternoon: "Despite Garcia's continued attacks on Sheriff Thomas, Our Campaign has made the decision to go into the last days of the campaign with only a positive ad, the latest ad wills stop in the morning."
Once again, White says he's not endorsing anyone. Though, it's a pretty good non-endorsement.
About time! Houston City Council just passed a major contract today for police radios. The multimillion dollar project is long overdue. It's well known that Houston police officers and firefighters can't really communicate with their counterparts in the county. Now they can.. starting in 2010. Better late than never!
There's been a few problems with stolen and defaced signs in Fort Bend
county recently that includes both Democratic and Republican signs.
My colleague Kevin Quinn just did a story. I saw this sign at an early
voting location last night.
Eight Days.
That's it. The historic election is a week away. We here at ABC 13 will try to be everywhere on election night, my colleague Tom Abrahams will be in Chicago, and I will be in Arizona covering John McCain.
Locally,it will be interesting to see if Reps. John Culberson and Nick Lampson can hold on to their seats.
Of course, we're also paying attention to see if Harris County will "go blue." As of Sunday, 387,862 have either voted in person or by mail. It is a startling number.
Let me know if you plan to head to Arizona or Illinois!
District 22 challenger Pete Olson has been running a tough campaign against incumbent Democratic Congressman Nick Lampson. The two have been slugging it out in campaign events, a debate, and trading barbs in television ads. But now, Olson is having to respond to a tough ad from the DCCC. If you haven't seen the negative ad, it basically accuses Olson of voter fraud.
The allegation stems from Olson's voter history unearthed by the Lone Star Project, a Democratic PAC based in DC. In the documents, it apparently shows that Olson voted in Virginia, and then in Connecticut, and then in Virginia. 
Virginia law says a person can not knowingly vote in more than one state. Olson lived in Virginia before moving back to Texas to run for Congress.
Lampson's folks have been chomping at the bit about this voter story, alleging that Olson has committed a felony. Olson's people have steadfastly denied that he voted in Connecticut, saying he was in Washington, D.C. and then Texas on official Senate business during that day of voting. Instead, Olson's people say someone either used his name or it was a mistake.
Now, with the tough ad by the Democrats, Olson is feeling the pressure. He will be talking to the press and refuting the allegations point by point this afternoon. It will be interesting to see what happens!
I spotted this billboard in downtown Houston today. It encourages
people to vote Republican and features a smiling Sarah Palin. So,
um... John McCain doesn't get a photo?
There are now just 13 days left before the historic election day, but the real election has already begun. Early voting continues to be off the charts, including in Harris County. The second day of early voting brought out 43,411 processed votes, a bit higher than day one's 39,201. Together, turnout has been basically double of voters during the same period four years ago.
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