Friday Funnies (Rogue to the White House edition)

The latest on the mayor's race, and more statewide

-- Annise Parker and Gene Locke have made plenty of headlines as the Houston mayoral contest moves closer to the December runoff date. In the wake of an internal poll showing Parker at the cusp of victory, Locke continues to try to distance himself from the gay-baiting and is assembling a last-minute smear against Parker as soft on crime. The TeaBagger wing of the Harris County Republican party is going full-throttle as well, with master of disaster Allen Blakemore arranging meetings between Locke and Roy Morales as well as advising Locke informally. Miya Shay:

While Locke may not have spoken with Hotze or Blakemore much, it’s clear that Blakemore’s had semi-consistent contact with parts of Locke’s campaign. Blakemore’s told me that on several occasions. Blakemore says he’s Republican, and he won’t work for Democrats, even though Locke’s campaign staffers have asked him several times if he’s interested in working with Locke. Blakemore, though, is offering up free advice here and there. It’s clear that Blakemore is relishing his role as an uncommitted, unpaid player.

Update: Of course match-making and power-playing doesn't work well if one of the player-matches is demonstrably insolent.

-- Dick came to town, after a little dithering Kay made it in with him, they got on all the news channels locally, she asked him if he was running for president in 2012, he said 'no chance', she's running some radio ads now. She's had a good week pushing back with media. Rick Perry let another man die by the needle last night despite the Parole Board's recommendations that he halt the execution. So he is certainly maintaining his, ah, 'credibility'.

-- Farouk Shami declared for governor and Kinky Friedman had to issue denials that he was getting out of the race because of it.

-- Barbara Radnofsky was Keith Obermann's "Best Person in the World" on last night's 'Countdown'.

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-- Hank Gilbert and Tom Schieffer and Felix Alvarado discussed the issues at the TCU Democratic gubernatorial candidate forum in Fort Worth on Wednesday. Haley Barbour, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, thinks that the hair-pulling contest between the two cheerleaders makes it more difficult for the GOP to hold Austin in 2010.

-- And Bill White got the Texas Monthly spotlight treatment, but continues to be dogged by rumors that he will file for governor. I don't think he will (and I don't think he should).

Texas Democratic candidate updates

-- Farouk Shami is a candidate to dye for, according to the Texas Tribune. His recent political contributions are what stand out to me, however ...

Shami's (hair care products) business, founded in 1986, took off when he signed a distribution deal with Austin-based Armstrong McCall. John McCall is a part owner of Farouk Systems now, and the two men — particularly McCall — were the biggest contributors four years ago to Kinky Friedman's campaign for governor. Shami gave Friedman $24,400 for that run; McCall was in for $1.3 million and was listed, until last February, as Friedman's campaign treasurer.

Shami also contributed to former Rep. Martha Wong, R-Houston, who lost a 2006 race to Democrat Ellen Cohen. And in May of this year, he gave $5,000 to Republican Ted Cruz, who had his sights set on a run for attorney general. In federal races, he's contributed to candidates of all political stripes this decade, including Democrat Hillary Clinton, U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Houston, Houston Mayor Bill White (for the U.S. Senate race), Ralph Nader (in 2004 and 2008), Tennessee Democrat Graham Leonard, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (the same month he gave to Cruz), and the Republican National Committee (most recently in 2007).

My, it's just like Peter Brown all over again.

-- Elliot Shapleigh is still hem-hawing about a run for Austin ...

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, asked recently to respond to those who say Democrats can't win statewide, today poured forth a torrent of reasons Rick Perry can be beaten.

Is Shapleigh thinking of running for governor in the March Democratic primary? It sounds like it.

"The key is turnout," Shapleigh said in an email this morning. "If turnout matches March 2008, Rick Perry gets retired. When he leaves Austin, people not predators, polluters and paid lobbyists run the state. We believe that most Texans thirst for that message and that day."

LIEUTENANT Governor. Please. Kuffner has more on Shami and Shapleigh.

-- Hank Gilbert's campaign is really hustling:

How does an 8-cents-a-gallon increase in the gasoline tax to fund transportation sound? What about state recognition of same-sex civil unions with the same rights as traditional marriage, a $5,000 teacher pay raise, and bigger penalties for polluters?

They're certainly not all politically canny positions (who campaigns on new taxes?), but give Democratic candidate for governor Hank Gilbert this much: He's already offered detailed proposals in some half-dozen areas affecting Texans. That gives Gilbert something other gubernatorial candidates largely don't yet have less than four months before the primary.

“Serious candidates issue serious, comprehensive policy statements,” said Gilbert spokesman Vince Leibowitz. Gilbert hasn't yet proposed how he would pay for his education initiatives but plans to do so Nov. 24. There's little detail yet from most others hoping to oust GOP Gov. Rick Perry.

Gilbert's team has also appointed an Asian-American senior staffer. Be sure and note Kinky Friedman's response.

-- Speaking of gay marriage, that constitutional amendment banning it in Texas that was passed in 2005 may have a little problem in the wording ...

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Texas Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by Texas voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the trouble-making phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships.

But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively "eliminates marriage in Texas," including common-law marriages.

She calls it a "massive mistake" and blames the current attorney general, Republican Greg Abbott, for allowing the language to become part of the Texas Constitution. Radnofsky called on Abbott to acknowledge the wording as an error and consider an apology. She also said that another constitutional amendment may be necessary to reverse the problem.

Abbott and his Army of God respond with the usual sniffing disdain but in the wake of a Dallas civil court's decision last month that the state's ban of gay marriage violates the Equal Protection Clause, the issue of codifying discrimination in Texas should warm up nicely as a 2010 election talking point.

-- We have a candidate for the Texas Court of Appeals, and his name is Keith Hampton. More on Hampton and the CCA from the Austin Chronicle.

Welcome back to Houston, Dick

No Kay tonight with you, it looks like ...

Few events have been more important to (Hutchison's gubernatorial) campaign than Cheney's endorsement. And while there were indications Monday that a Senate vote that would cause her to miss the Houston event would be delayed, her campaign won't risk that she would miss a major health care vote just days after making it such a big priority.

"If there's even a 10 percent chance" of a procedural vote in the Senate on Tuesday, "she won't get on the airplane" and fly to Texas to join Cheney, said campaign manager Terry Sullivan.

Here's hoping all the attendees have government-run health care from having served in the previous administration, or lots and lots of money, just in case you get crazy with the shotgun again.

Come to think of it, that ought to cover everybody at tonight's event.

Update: Look at that, she made it back.

The contest may yet shape up as a classic Republican vs. TeaBagger, Washington D.C. versus crazy-talk conservative donnybrook.

Update II: Wayne Slater at the DMN's Trail Blazers blog has video from the Hobby airport rally portion of the event. And don't miss Big Jolly's glowing, fawning account.