Still nothing but early votes from the Lampson vs. Sekula-Gibbs race, but very bad indicators for the Republican write-in candidate. This was a district that President Bush visited:Nick Lampson (D) 23,718/49.82%Bob Smither (L) 2,205/4.63%Joe Reasbeck (W-I) 40/0.08%Don Richardson (W-I) 8,705/18.28%Shelley Sekula Gibbs (W-I) 12,943/27.18%With the libertarian candidate polling well and
If there was ever any doubt about it, let’s say it again: Texas is a hugely Republican state. You would never know that the Rs are taking on the chin in many states tonight. There is absolutely zero sign of Democratic life in statewide or congressional races. The only close
The governor’s race is following the 40/30/20/10 model:Perry 354,989/41.31%Bell 248,570/28.92%Strayhorn 160,897/18.72%Friedman 87,767/10.18%Hutchison 611,611Radnofsky 360,36061.7% to 36.36%Congressional:Chet Edwards up two to one over Van TaylorLampson pulls ahead of Sekula-Gibbs, 14,624-12,914. Good news for Sekula Gibbs: other write-ins and Libertarian are getting just 5% of the vote.Surprisingly close race in Corpus Christi/Valley
Early returns (mostly early vote):Hutchison 66.01%Radnofsky 32.44%Here’s an interesting one (early vote):Lampson 11,635Sekula-Gibbs 12,914Perry 44.16%Bell 27.46%Strayhorn 18.22%Friedman 9.67%No statewide down-ballot Republicans are having any trouble at all. Dewhurst, Abbott, and Combs all have vote totals in the 43,000s.
From a Republican consultant, passed on by a third party:Perry 40+Bell 29Strayhorn 19Friedman 11Note that this resembles the 40-30-20-10 model that has always appeared to be the most likely outcome of the race.
Yesterday I finally decided how I would cast my vote for governor: for Kinky Friedman. I have never before cast a vote primarily as a protest, for a candidate I thought had no chance to win. Voting is a great privilege, and I have always been inclined to exercise it
This is going to be a long post that covers all of the statewide races, the major legislative races, and any other race that could be interesting. I’m going to start with races for the state House of Representatives, because this is where the action is in this election cycle,
I’ve been so wrapped up in the elections that I have neglected to post SurveyUSA’s monthly tracking poll of the approval ratings of U.S. senators. John Cornyn is one of twelve senators whose disapproval rating (43%) is higher than his approval rating (40%). The benchmarks represent Cornyn’s highest disapproval rating
The women of the Junior League of Odessa believe there’s nothing better than “puttin’ on a pair of boots, meetin’ friends and eatin’ some good food.” And in The Wild Wild West: Cuisine From the Land of Cactus and Cowboys, the ladies show Texans how to celebrate the legends and
The SubGenius Psychlopaedia or Slack: The Bobliographon is—how to put this—the most unusual text most folk will ever encounter.
Mail your friends and family holiday treats, from ham and cheese to apple cider and tamales.
Senior editor Pamela Colloff on going to Sarita to see first-hand what hardships illegal immigrants face as they try to pass a South Texas checkpoint.
Senior editor Katy Vine talks about visiting the Giddings State School, a juvenile detention facility where she observed therapists helping kids who’ve committed violent offenses wrestle their inner demons.
Senior editor Patricia Sharpe and foodie Brooke Ferguson discuss the time, the tasting, and the tenacity involved in reviewing more than four hundred mail-order food items.
Senior executive editor Paul Burka on Texas A&M University president Robert Gates and his plans for change.
Where elite feet meet.
One, two, three strikes they’re out.
Matthew Dowd on how to win an election.
“The newspaper business? I don’t mind being in a dying industry, but it really pisses me off to be in one that’s committing suicide.”
ABOUT YOUR SEPTEMBER COVER … As a lifetime Texan and hockey dad, I’m a bit offended. Okay, I’m over it. However, I’m wondering if you know that the state of Texas houses more pro hockey teams than any other state. I’m wondering if you know just how many kids
Barbara and Roy Orbison were married nineteen years before his death, in 1988. Just released are three of the legendary rocker’s classics, Crying, In Dreams, and Sings Lonely and Blue (Monument/Legacy), along with the new DVD documentary, In Dreams, which Barbara helmed as executive producer.The DVD is fascinating. It must
Growing Up.
Just curious, Mr. Vice President: How did your old pals at Halliburton get that five-year, no-bid contract to clean up Iraq?
Bush bashing on the big screen.
What’s loony about the beach in winter?
Yes, deer: It’s that time of year again.
At the Giddings State School, violent teenagers come to terms with their horrific crimes—and learn how to avoid committing them again—through role-playing exercises in a jailhouse version of group therapy. This is what your tax dollars are paying for? Well, it works. For a while, at least.
She was our governor, but she was my friend.
You want to send your granny a grapefruit this Christmas? Your bro a brisket? Your pop a pie? We’ve taste-tested more than four hundred foodstuffs that Texas companies will happily ship to your door, and more than forty are first-class.
In four years as president of Texas A&M University, former CIA director Robert M. Gates—who knows a thing or two about leading a strong, hidebound, misunderstood culture—has left few areas of campus life untouched. But putting sushi in the dining halls is nothing compared with overhauling the Aggie brand.
A fix for political junkies.
William Martin Reviews our places of worship.
Does the ten-gallon hat hold ten gallons?
WHEN I MOVED TO TEXAS TO WORK for Texas Monthly in late 1991, the two words staring out at me from an upcoming cover were “Aggie Sex.” Was I on a different planet? I quickly got up to speed on what an Aggie was—sex I’d heard of—but it took me
Your band can’t get going? Here’s some advice: Take a look at your singer. If his or her vocals lack character, there’s little chance of moving beyond the odd house party. There are many reasons the self-released debut from Austin’s WHAT MADE MILWAUKEE FAMOUS, Trying to Never Catch Up (Barsuk),
Being Sandra Bullock’s onetime boy toy as well as the leader of a scatological frat band known as the Scabs is not the résumé from which instant respectability springs. He’s no critic’s darling, yet Austin rocker BOB SCHNEIDER seems utterly unconcerned with such things (he once had the cheek to
“Civilizations wearin’ thin/Like an old sad shirt.” BUTCH HANCOCK pulls no punches on his latest diatribe, WAR AND PEACE (Two Roads). Hancock emerges from his Terlingua exile with his first solo album in six years, and he’s obviously been brooding out in the desert. Those reticent to have another singer
Race and racism at the state soccer championship.
That old mad dog Carlton Carl takes Martindale. Literally.
Rick Perry’s inner monologue.
At a mere 158 pages, THE LONG NIGHT OF WINCHELL DEAR calls to mind that kvetch of the hoary Catskills resort patron: “The food is terrible—and such small portions!” To be fair, the latest from brand-name Hill Country novelist ROBERT JAMES WALLER is not terrible, but it is disappointing—slapdash and
It’s tempting to focus on ELROY BODE’s celebrations of life’s simple pleasures (birds, interesting strangers, barbershops) in this El Pasoan’s new collection of microscopically short ruminations, IN A SPECIAL LIGHT. But there is no denying the insistent melancholy (verging on depression) that gives the book grit and balance. Bode cuts
Fort Worth native RICK BASS has loaded his earthy story collection, THE LIVES OF ROCKS, with three-way relationships of all stripes—platonic, romantic, familial, adversarial—and with characteristic economy of language, he mines a wide range of human emotion from these mélanges à trois. “Goats” is a gentle slapstick about two teenage
The SubGenius Psychlopaedia of Slack: The Bobliographon is—how to put this—the most unusual text most folk will ever encounter. Its Fort Worth–bred author-editor midwifed the birth of the for-profit Church of the SubGenius (“the only religion to pay its taxes”) more than 25 years ago and remains the wizard behind
Nora Ephron’s wattle, and Ann Richards’s, and mine.
Jordan’s PickDallas OperaDallasLIKE SO MANY BABY BOOMERS warily approaching that milestone birthday—yes, you know which one—the Dallas Opera finds itself at the contemplative crossroads of half a century. Happily, there’s no midlife crisis in sight: Beginning this month, the venerated institution will be treating its guests to a star-strewn golden-anniversary
Zogby’s latest poll has Chris Bell within 8 points of Rick Perry:Perry 36.7Bell 28.5Strayhorn 15Friedman 14.4Bell has managed to hang around in the governor’s race despite having terrible fundraising problems (which I detailed in a previous post, “Rhymes with ‘Cash'”), and, as a result, only a sporadic presence on television.
I confess to being fixated on the race for control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Every morning I check for the latest polls in Indiana’s 2nd congressional district, New Mexico’s 1st, Connecticut’s 4th, Pennsylvania’s 6th. In all I’m following 53 races, all of them except Texas’s 22nd involving candidates
Crash! That sound is the end of Chris Bell’s hope to remain competitive in the governor’s race. Friday was the eighth day before the election, the deadline for the last filing period for campaign contributions, and Bell reported just $84,106 cash on hand for the final week. Bell’s impoverishment could
I heard Barack Obama speak at the annual book festival at the Capitol on Saturday. Attendance in the House Chamber was limited to people who had blue or red wrist bands, for seating on the floor or in the gallery, respectively. TEXAS MONTHLY had six of the coveted blue strips.
