Annise Parker, Wendy Davis, and Kim Ogg

One week to go before the only televised appearance of all Houston mayor candidates, three weeks before early voting begins, and a month until Election Day in the most boring election season on record.  There's not even a strong majority -- and few strong opinions -- for either keeping or tearing down the Astrodome, also on the ballot.  And what little excitement does exist is about to be eclipsed by the 2014 Texas governor's contest.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  Depends on who you are.

Mayor Parker's team is content to hold the ball and run out the clock on the bid for her final re-election.  The polls suggest she'll skate through, but she may have to vanquish the mud-slinging Ben Hall one more time in December.  That's when things will really get ugly.

Hall's campaign has been nothing short of a disaster.  Incoherent one week, overfloweth with vitriol the next.  The other eight candidates have just been studiously ignored by the media and thus the electorate.  Everybody has a last chance to make up for that -- the ones doing the ignoring and the ones being ignored -- in the remaining days.

As for city council races, thank goodness there have been Texpatriate and Texas Leftist with some questionnaires and endorsements.  They have supplemented Off the Kuff's usual comprehensive interview series.  Anybody seeking information on municipal races hasn't had to wait on the corporate legacy media to put something behind their paywall.

I can't say a thing about educational candidates and elections because they have been so far under the radar that they're subterranean.

So while we all wait one more day for the erstwhile Democratic gubernatorial nominee -- the one in the orange tennies -- to kick things off, we can focus for a moment on a recent positive development: the newly-announced challenger to the freshly-appointed Harris County district attorney.  A tip o' the chapeau to Houston's most prominent Republican blogger for the write-up and photos of Kim Ogg's declaration last Monday.

At a well-attended announcement today on the steps of the renovated Harris County Courthouse at 301 Fannin in downtown Houston, Ms. Ogg promised the attendees that the duty of district attorney was not only to convict but to see that justice is done. She also promised to ensure that criminal cases are based on sound evidence so that crime victims and those accused are treated fairly. As a long-time crime victims advocate, she promised to prioritize crimes of violence against individual victims, business crimes against crime victims for businesses, and environmental crimes against all of us. She will do this by putting non-violent misdemeanor offenders to work and by changing the ways forfeiture funds are spent. She will change the focus from low level criminals to the prosecution and dismantling of organized crime and gangs from the top down. She will immediately halt the practice of treating economically disadvantaged criminals differently than others by promising that no one will be above the law in Harris County, regardless of the neighborhood you live in, the size of your bank account, or the uniform you wear. She will use 21st century tactics to combat 21st century crime. 

Ogg made some news by saying she would not prosecute drug crimes on trace evidence.  This is a return to a policy instituted by former Republican DA Pat Lykos.  Here's Ogg on KTRK video talking about the indictments of HPD officers in one of the many teenager beatings they have performed in recent years.  But Imma let Big Jolly finish.

Texas needs a revitalized Democratic Party if Republicans are to eschew complacency. Complacency amongst Texas Republicans will result in Democratic control of the state. We need qualified candidates at all levels of government. Too often Republican primary voters settle for unqualified candidates that are adept at spouting talking points the voters want to hear. Take a look at this year’s primary for Railroad Commissioner if you don’t believe me. Just today, former Rep. Wayne Christian touted his endorsement by “conservatives and religious leaders” and the Texas Right to Life groups. If you can explain to me what those endorsements have to do with oil and gas policy, I’ll buy you some beachfront property in Arizona.

Another interesting aspect of the 2014 DA’s race will be, assuming Ms. Ogg and the current appointed DA make it through their respective primaries, that the issue of abortion will be taken off the table. The race might (hopefully?) be about ideas pertaining to criminal justice.

That's better and so much nicer than I could have said it.

'House of Turds'

The New York Daily News for the win.

As soon as the markets start dropping, Jamie Dimon will call Boehner and tell him to cut the crap. But I don't expect that to happen before the end of the week.  In the meantime, the cost is harsh for some (and it's not a political one, either).

Federal employees who are considered essential will continue working. Those deemed non-essential -- more than 800,000 -- will be furloughed, unsure when they'll be able to work or get paid again. Most furloughed federal workers are supposed to be out of their offices within four hours of the start of business Tuesday. 

The shutdown could cost the still-struggling U.S. economy about $1 billion a week in pay lost by furloughed federal workers. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.

While many agencies have reserve funds and contingency plans that would give them some short-term leeway, the economic loss would snowball as the shutdown continued.

The total economic impact is likely to be at least 10 times greater than the simple calculation of lost wages of federal workers, said Brian Kessler, economist with Moody's Analytics. His firm estimates that a three- to four-week shutdown would cost the economy about $55 billion.

Eight hundred thousand people is roughly the size of San Francisco (which by itself provides incentive in the TeaBagger mind).  Locally, NASA is all but closed today. But the troops, Medicare and Social Security recipients, and yes, members of the House and Senate still get their paychecks.

And Obamacare is gearing up right on schedule.  It's obviously more popular than Ted Cruz says.

So the next time the Democrats have the House of Representatives and a Republican is in the White House (maybe never again in my lifetime for the latter), let's see the House shut down the government over going to war.  Or rolling back the Bush tax cuts.  Hell, since this is a dream, a tax increase on the wealthiest 1%.

Makes sense in this world turned upside down, doesn't it?

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is as eager as everyone else for Thursday's announcement as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff is glad to see more people questioning the purpose of Rick Perry's job-stealing trips, which do little more than spend tax dollars promoting Rick Perry.

This week, McBlogger tells the story of a man with no plan, who'll get no pay because he caused a delay. While others worked hard, his head was filled with lard. And then he tried to hide, so now we get to chide.

Somebody is going to have to do some dirty work if Wendy Davis is going to get elected governor, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs nominates the Castro brothers.

Sophia at Texpatriate got a special sneak peak of (Houston mayoral candidate) Ben Hall's newest television ad.

Ted Cruz doesn't think waiters and maids deserve health care. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme doesn't think Ted Cruz deserves to represent Texas.

Neil at All People Have Value made more posts at his new blog. All People Have Value is part of Neil's new website, NeilAquino.com.

Lightseeker at Texas Kaos offers another in his continuing investigation of the education wars. Check out Three Telling Articles on The Education Wars. Give it a look; Rick Perry sure will.

=======================================

John Coby mocks Ted Cruz as only he can.

Jason Stanford, on the other hand, sees Ted Cruz as a great gift for Texas Democrats.

Concerned Citizens stands up for San Antonio City city council member Diego Bernal, author of their new non-discrimination ordinance and much more.

Texas Redistricting reports that True The Vote wants to get involved in the voter ID litigation.

The TSTA Blog asks what "education reform" means to Greg Abbott.

Better Texas Blog points out the mental health care benefits of the Affordable Care Act.

The Castros as attack dogs for Wendy Davis

My response to this development Friday morning is going to be somewhat more politically incorrect than my usual.  (Hard to believe, I realize...)

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) said Friday that fellow Texan Sen. Ted Cruz's (R) presidential prospects were damaged by his 21-hour floor speech against Obamacare.

“I think what became clear this week is that he can’t be president and the reason is nobody will follow him, even people within his own party won’t follow him,” Castro said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “And so I think in terms of his long term prospects it was fairly damaging."

The Texas Democrat noted that Cruz's speech had a polarizing effect. Some of Cruz's Republican colleagues were vocal about their disapproval: Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) on Thursday accused Cruz from the Senate floor of putting on a "show" instead of working to avoid a government shutdown.

"I think that he wanted to make a big splash and he certainly has," Castro said. "He's done something that I think is unusual, which is he's made Washington worse, he's made the polarization worse."

He had tweeted a similar sentiment during Cruz's speech.

Ted Cruz said he would go to Washington and change Washington. He has -- he's made it worse.
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) September 24, 2013

This is precisely what both Castro brothers are going to need to do to provide a proper assist to Wendy Davis' gubernatorial prospects.

Harvey Kronberg has already written about the nationalizing of the statewide elections, and that if Greg Abbott is going to run against Barack Obama, Wendy should campaign against Ted.  Since Congressman Joaquin and Mayor Julian were too cautious to take the 2014 plunge themselves, they must now be at the forefront of the attack on the Poop Cruz travelers.  And there should perhaps be a racial component to it (at least as a whisper campaign).  I decried that tactic when Gilberto Hinojosa did it last year, but the only truth in this race is that Democrats who really want to win had better be strong enough to fight fire with fire.  The Barbie crap simply cannot go unanswered.

The Castros have to speak with conviction to the Eddie Lucios among Latino Democrats, and they must directly address the concerns of those whose reticence will be heightened because of the millions of dollars Abbott will pump into Spanish language media.

Without collecting another dime, Abbott's already got enough money to spend two million bucks a month between now and November 2014.  If history serves as a guide, he's going to pour it on in TV ads at the end, as he did in 2006 when he ran against David Van Os, and in 2010 against Barbara Radnofsky.

This skirmish is one of the small but numerous critical components to the success of Davis and other Texas Democrats on the ballot: the Castro brothers and all Latino electeds -- not just prospective LG candidate Leticia Van de Putte, or Sen. Sylvia Garcia, but the titular heads of that caucus -- have to reinforce and grow the Democratic Latino base in the face of these gathering headwinds, and they cannot be shy about going on the offensive when it is needed.

And if the Castros -- or anybody else -- choose to half-ass that effort, i.e. fail to fight back, there ought to be plenty of Democrats who remember that when it's their turn to run.

Let's give Joaquin credit for a good start and expect to see more like this.

Sunday Funnies

Saturday morning spitballing

-- Tea Party queen Debra Medina makes a transparent play for some of Greg Abbott's check-writers.

Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina could end up running again for the state's highest office, this time as an independent, she said Friday afternoon.

Medina, who has been exploring a race for comptroller for several months, told the Tribune earlier this month that she is having trouble raising the amount of money she thinks is necessary to mount a competitive campaign for that office. She cited a particular lack of interest from wealthy campaign donors who are typically pivotal in financing successful statewide races in Texas.

At the same time, in a development first reported by the Quorum Report, she said she has been hearing from potential donors interested in seeing her run as an independent for governor. Collectively, she has received pledges totaling millions of dollars, she said, and that has her wondering whether she ought to switch from one race to the other.

I would be stunned if Medina ran for governor.  As Texpate suggests, that would create so much momentum for Wendy Davis that it cannot be measured with modern technology.  What Medina really wants is for General Scooter's benefactors to open up their wallets and keep her out of the governor's contest.  And Greg Abbott will encourage them to do so, because he doesn't owe Harvey Hilderbran or Glenn Hegar a thing.

As for the still-just-prospective Democratic candidate's part, Davis needs some big money herself, she needs Abbott to screw up publicly a few more times, and she needs some glorious serendipity in order to be able to change her address to 1010 Colorado Street, Austin.  Medina in the race as an indy falls into the third category.

There's a case to be made for Mike Collier being the Democrat with the best shot at statewide victory if Medina is the Republicans' nominee for comptroller.  Her pet issue is overhauling the state's eminent domain laws; she spoke about it at the Independent Texans convention last weekend in Bastrop (where she likely was begged to run for governor).  That could be a hot topic again with rural, suburban, and urban Texas voters of all political stripes, as it was in 2006 with regard to the Trans Texas Corridor, but it's not a stance that's attracting wealthy oil company executives -- and their PACs -- who make large contributions to GOP political campaigns.  So there's that.

-- The Tea Pee also wants Louie Gohmert to primary John Cornyn.  Some people don't want to say so directly, so they're dropping The Dew's name.  Those are people who want one of the other three RWNJs to be lite guv.

Dewhurst can finish first in the primary he''s already in, but he might be unable to win the runoff with one of Staples, Patterson and (most likely) Patrick as his competition.

The conventional view of the race is that despite Dewhurst’s advantages, he is highly vulnerable. Down-ballot races are about getting your message out, and with his ability to self-fund, Dewhurst will have the biggest megaphone. But a four-way primary could easily result in a runoff, in which he would struggle, just as he did in the delayed primary against Cruz. His performance in that race also indicates that his constituency may not have the influence it once did.

Dewhurst is still haunted by his loss to Cruz. ... 

Go click and read that article.  And then you'll see things come full circle; Gohmert is the guy we all want to primary Cornyn.  Because then a Democrat might actually decide to run (and consequently win).

For the Republicans reading this and not getting it: splitting your party between crazies and "moderates" is how you will lose control of this state.  It's happened all across the country, and it's coming to Texas.  Sooner than later.

But please don't take my advice and vote for the 'sensible' person in your primary.  Please.

-- Ben Hall cranked up the slime to 10 yesterday.  Sue Davis threw a creampie back at him.  Both parties missed their target.  Update: Dr. Murray may think it's funny, but I sure don't.

Another thirty days of this... maybe sixty.

Update II:  I should have added San Antonio city council member and virulent homophobe Elisa Chan to the list of batshit nuts challenging plenty-conservative-enough Republicans from their right.

No offense meant toward bat guano.