Dome vote, like Parker's re-election, slouches toward approval

I'll just excerpt and you tell me if you see any similarities.

Two polls released this week show a majority of likely Harris County voters have decided whether or not they want to preserve the iconic Astrodome by paying to turn it into a convention and center and exhibit space.

A $217 million bond initiative to fund the re-purposing of the now-vacant stadium, which county officials have said would require an increase to the property tax rate, will appear on the ballot this November.

A KUHF/KHOU poll, conducted by Rice University political scientist Bob Stein, shows 45 percent of likely county voters would support the bond issue and 35 percent would oppose it, while 20 percent are undecided. The poll surveyed 650 likely county voters and has a 3.8 percentage point margin of error.

Another poll, conducted for the campaign working to drum up support for the dome project, shows a tie: 43 percent in favor and 43 percent opposed, with the rest undecided. The group's poll surveyed 500 likely county voters and has a 4.5 percentage point margin of error.

While the results are "not spectacular" for proponents of the initiative, Stein said he gets the sense that the initiative will end up passing simply because there is no organized opposition, meaning the campaign will get to "control the message."

I nodded off a little in the middle of reading that.  Swamplot posted one of the commercials that the referendum's support captains have authorized, and noticed that something got left out.

Part of the so-called “New Dome Experience” devised by the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp. proposes that the space-age icon be slimmed down — and, if this new promo video (at link) is any indication, that means more than just removing ramps and staircases from the stadium’s unwashed exterior, but also chopping its name in half. You’ll see in this new commercial, produced by the recently formed committee to persuade voters in advance of this November’s this-or-nothing bond election, that the Astrodome is referred to throughout solely as “the Dome,” whether it’s hosting technology conferences, Ferris wheel demonstrations, or generic swimming championships.

The commenters over there get it right -- its name never actually was 'Astrodome' except in the public vernacular, and the powers-that-be can sell the naming rights and call it "Blimpie" as long as they don't implode it like Macy's/Foley's.

I'm back to being bored to tears about this election season.