Lunch with the Space City chapter of Western Blogonia

(West is left facing north).

I'm the sort of person that isn't content being an online slacktivist. I like to meet the people I converse with online if possible. And I've met discussion forum participants locally and in Austin and San Francisco, and hopefully next weekend in Boston (and recently one site had a Europe gathering I'm sorry I missed) but as I move away from open-season semi-moderated boards to the Wild West of Blogistan I find I get to make a whole new set of friends and alliances.

So yesterday a bunch of us locally got together for some Tex-Mex and political chat.

Specifically the group included this fellow, this lady, this guy, this gal, and "Red Dog", who shows up in the comments of those often but if he has a blog I can't find it. (BK, help me out if I'm blind, pal...)

My first observation is that among the group there might be only one other native Texan besides me, judging from one self-disclosure and the accents. They're also all a pay grade or three above me in terms of formal education, with at least one Ivy Leaguer and several graduate degrees in the bunch.

And I mention the Lone Star connection only because all of these people do a much better job following the Texas Legislature's shenanigans as well as the local political scene -- right down to city hall -- that I can, or intend, to do. Oh, I blog a lot about Deep-In-The-Hearta, as my half-dozen regular readers already know, but it's mostly from a macro perspective (though those freaks in Pearland will undoubtedly continue to draw attention to themselves). And my state representative has lately exposed a particular strain of stupidity, but I'll avoid for now saying something really bad (or good, for that matter) about him. Mostly because it's just too 'inside baseball' even for me.

I'd rather talk smack about John Bolton and Jeff Gannon -- what, you didn't know they were an item? -- than Bill White or Michael Berry.

I hope more of the rest of the H-Town Blogosphere takes Charles Kuffner up on his invite to make these little get-togethers a monthly regular on their calendars. Pete, rastro, this means y'all ...

Something's just wrong with this headline:

"Bush promises probe into Saddam underwear pictures".

And yes, there's a photograph. Not of the probe (thankfully).

More all-important rotisserie baseball wryness

From Fanball.com:

News

Remember Jason "Raspberry" Bere? The veteran right-hander, who was coming back from an elbow injury this spring with the Indians' Triple-A affiliate at Buffalo, announced his retirement on Thursday. The injury-plagued former All-Star fashioned a 71-65 record in 203 Major League starts for the White Sox, Reds, Brewers, Cubs, and Indians.

Views

If for some reason you had Bere stashed on a keeper league bench, you can go ahead and release him now and look for a cheap replacement—the kind you find in a second-hand store.

We're gonna "Cowboy Up" with data

Last night the Houston Democratic Forum hosted Dr. Richard Murray, who discussed (along with his son Keir, who also blogs) the creation of the Texas Research Foundation, a progressive think tank to "assist in gathering and disseminating academically sound data on important state issues, and making these findings widely known to business, civic, and community leaders as well as the general public."

In other words, get our message out.

Dr. Murray's expertise is polling, and the state of Texas is woefully underrepresented relative to the quantity (and quality) of polling data of its electorate. Typically the conglomerated media will commission a poll close to the election in order to fill 45 seconds on their 10 pm newscasts and create a week's worth of buzz, and of course the parties fund their own (read biased) pollsters, but again only sporadically and the results are issued mostly when it's favorable to their candidates. So one of Murray's goals for the foundation is to conduct a quarterly statewide poll on issues as well as politicians, one that is academically sound and uses transparent methodology. And as it relates to good news or bad news for Democratic candidates, let the chips fall wherever.

Marguerite has posted here in greater detail (she must've had a recorder, bless her heart).

This is all still in the formative stages, so if you would care to assist in building something like this from the foundation up (no pun) -- and I'm not just talking about donating money but helping to conduct research and "disseminate data", fellow bloggers -- then visit the Foundation's (also still rudimentary) website above.

Hubert Vo and Carole Strayhorn

Local blogmeisters Kuff and Evan have scored with Texas Monthly passkeys (which won't last more than a few days) on two of the more fascinating political stories currently playing out in Deep-In-The-Hearta.

The election of Hubert Vo, the Vietnamese-American and Democrat who toppled Talmadge Heflin in the ferociously contested statehouse race last year, portends a favorable trend:

The fortunes of the Democratic Party seemed bright on a warm evening this spring, when four hundred Vo supporters gathered at a Vietnamese restaurant downtown for a belated appreciation dinner. Chinese American city council candidate Mark Lee worked the room, as did Jay Aiyer, an Indian American city-council-at-large candidate. Against a red-white-and-blue backdrop, students from Alief high schools performed folk dances; girls in sparkling headdresses sashayed to Bollywood songs, and teenagers in white peasant skirts stomped to mariachi music. Vo’s campaign staff was as multicultural as the crowd: His Latino direct-mail consultant was there, as were his African American treasurer, his Pakistani American media consultant, and his folksy Anglo attorney (“We’d like to thank all y’all,” Larry Veselka said to the crowd with a tip of his white Stetson). Vo rose toward the end of the evening to sound the themes of his campaign and thank the audience. His 81-year-old father, who sat a few feet away, beamed. “I will not let you down,” Vo told the crowd to sustained applause. One of the last speakers of the night was Gordon Quan, the city councilman who is considering challenging DeLay. “Hubert provides hope that we can take back this state,” Quan said with a broad grin. “Look around this room. This is Texas.”

... and Carole Keeton Strayhorn, the GOP state controller who has pissed off Rick Perry and David Dewhurst and Tom Craddick with her tight-fisted management of the state's budget (that's a good thing) will likely run for higher office:

“Hogwash on Perry having the base locked up,” she said, interrupting my speculations. “They’re believing their own news releases. I do not mind rough-and-tumble. Texans are ashamed of what is going on now in their state.”

But hasn’t she been reduced to seeking contributions from trial lawyers?

“Hogwash on trial lawyers,” she said.

“When are you going to announce?” I asked, trying not to sound too eager for the answer.

She stared at me. “We view ourselves on the eve of battle,” she said. “We are nerved for the contest and must conquer or perish.” I should have recognized it, but I didn’t. Sam Houston, before San Jacinto.

If you want the skinny on the latest in Texas politics on both sides of the aisle (and keep in mind that what happens here is transferred nationwide shortly after) then go pay those two links at the top a visit and read the entire articles.