Sam Merten The scene at the Radisson Hotel As Dallas County GOP chair Jonathan Neerman told me earlier, a 20-point margin for Barack Obama would amount to an insurmountable lead to overcome for local Republicans. Of course, with early voting showing just that — a 20-point lead for Obama –…
Sam Merten Jonathan Neerman, Dallas County GOP chair If Dallas County Republican Party chair Jonathan Neerman is nervous, he’s not showing it. Since he arrived at the Radisson Hotel around 5:30, he’s calmly been working the room, checking his Blackberry while sipping from a glass of water. Neerman says the…
Brandon Thibodeaux Lowell Cannaday and Lupe Valdez during one of their debates The troops are scattered hither and yon: with the Dems at Bishop Arts, with the Republicans at the Raddison, and we’ve even pulled Pulle back into the fold for a night to hang with Alan Vaught at the…
Daryl Reaugh, the Dallas Stars’ beleaguered-of-late broadcaster and a Canadian to boot, wonders today why Election Day in the U.S. and A. isn’t a national holiday, then makes his case for such. To which he adds: Oh, and since I can’t vote I will use the free time as a…
Elaine Liner As of 11:30 a.m., the Krispy Kreme on Greenville Avenue had given away 343 free doughnuts to folks who said they’d voted. You have your choice of any doughnut, but the most popular today is the sprinkle-topped, star-shaped glazed pictured at right. And children of voters are getting…
Ran into Ron Kirk just now at the Lakewood Starbucks. Our former mayor and one-time Democratic U.S. Senate candidate (and, of course, a real big Barack Obama worker) did a double-take upon seeing his favorite Dallas Observer columnist, latte in hand. He said, “Oh, man, this is Election Day. Don’t…
This brief from The Onion this morning, which more or less reads like the Newsweek piece referenced below. –Robert Wilonsky WASHINGTON — In a press conference held this morning on the White House lawn, President Bush formally asked the assembled press corps and members of his own administration if, in…
As we prepare to adios George W. Bush from office, Newsweek wonders whether he’s bothered by the mean things John McCain’s been saying about him from the stump. Or whether it means anything to Dubya that he’ll leave the White House with “the lowest approval ratings of any modern president.”…
Alexander Flores From art director Alexander Flores, who almost never sees sunrise: At the Village Country Club at around 7:30 a.m., the line was long for a few of the other precincts set up there, but for 1213, my precinct, no line at all, which makes me wonder what the…
[Editor’s note: Apologies to Friends of Unfair Park who tried to post comments earlier this morning; they were stuck in a dead server, which also delayed posting and which has since been repaired. So I’ve been promised.] Took all of three minutes to vote this morning at Leonides Cigarroa Elementary…
Hands down, the best-made T-shirt in the dresser remains the “Perot for President” tee I bought from a street-corner salesman as a gag, swear, in the final days of the 1992 campaign. Sixteen years and countless wearings and washings later, the thing still looks brand-new; not so much Ross Perot,…
Bruce Sherbet, Dallas County’s elections administrator, will leave his office this evening at about 5, 5:30, like any other day. He will grab dinner, do some reading and try to fall asleep by 11 p.m. But he fears he won’t be so fortunate. Already, he has “night-before jitters,” as he…
With early voting wrapping up yesterday, we contacted Kirk McPike, Sheriff Lupe Valdez’s campaign manager and number-cruncher for local Democrats, for the latest on what the party is forecasting. He says Democratic-aligned precincts in general are outvoting the trends in terms of percentage of the vote from 2006 when the…
Yesterday, Vince Leibowitz posted to Burnt Orange Report a flier Republican Bill Keffer sent to would-be voters in Texas House District 107 in East Dallas, in which he attempts to link his opponent, Democratic state Rep. Allen Vaught, to some scary-looking dudes. You can see what Leibowitz brands the “racist…
Sam Merten In true lawyerly fashion, Tom Perkins knows nothin’ ‘bout nothin’. If you thought we couldn’t possibly have left anything of interest out of Tuesday’s lengthy post regarding last week’s city council meeting, there’s one tidbit we’ve been following. Turns out Mayor Leppert kept council member Mitchell Rasansky from…
On Politico.com this morning, Obama spokesman Bill Burton confirms Matt Drudge’s post concerning the campaign’s giving The Dallas Morning News — along with the New York Post and The Washington Times — the heave-ho from the campaign plane. Says Burton: “We’re trying to reach as many swing voters that we…
Patrick Michels If the tall guy stays healthy, this old crew just might have a shot. Jerry Jones is fast becoming the Kevin Bacon of the sports world, laying down intricate, unlikely connections to absolutely everyone who ever made a buck off some other guy throwing a ball. A few…
Over the last couple of days, three of Dallas’s wealthiest GOP supporters have been pumping big bucks into the Republican Party of Texas’s piggy bank in an effort to keep them Dems outta the House. On Monday, Harlan Crow kicked in $50,000 — or half of what Harold Simmons deposited…
A story in two parts today: “Dead voters cast ballots in Dallas County,” in which Melvin Porter dies in January 2007, only to vote in the March 4, 2008, Democratic primary. And this follow: “Polling place books may hold clues in mystery of Dallas County’s dead voters,” in which Danny…
Brian Harkin John Wiley Price and John Scovell showed up last week to defend Mayor Leppert’s hotel, but it was council member Vonciel Jones Hill who stole the show. At last week’s meeting, the city council approved selling bonds to refinance the convention center and spending another $4 million on…
Bishop Kevin Farrell A self-proclaimed Catholic for Change directs our attention this morning to the second joint statement from Bishops Kevin Farrell and Kevin Vann, who, as you’ll no doubt recall, told their congregants on October 8 that “to vote for a candidate who supports the intrinsic evil of abortion…
Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk was in North Carolina on Saturday, rallying the troops on behalf of his good pal and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Kirk — whose biggest accomplishment as mayor, apparently, was “building coalitions — namely between the city council and school board” — spent the day…
