OK, I suppose technically this story about Mayor White's political future and not the HCC trustee story will be the last campaign overview article in the Chron for this election cycle. It only barely qualifies as a campaign overview story in that it managed to give a couple of paragraphs to Mayor White's opponents, which must go down as the best comic relief of the season:
White faces meat-packing plant worker Amanda Ulman and contract engineer and professional wrestling promoter Outlaw Josey Wales IV in the Nov. 6 election.Ulman is running on behalf of the Socialist Workers Party. Her platform includes calls for amnesty for all illegal immigrants, the immediate end to the Iraq war and a massive public works project to give jobs to the unemployed at union wages.
"Workers are a majority of Houston, and we need our own voice. We need someone to stand up and raise demands that are in our own interest," said Ulman, an Indiana native who was a write-in candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006. "We join in the struggles of working people."
White's other opponent, who legally changed his name to Outlaw Josey Wales in 1998 to create a persona for his wrestling events, ran unsuccessfully against former Mayor Lee Brown a year later. He said he wants to pay Houston police officers more and ensure the long-term viability of their pension system.
He wants to make it illegal to drive while holding a cell phone and to require at least four motorists in a car to allow access to high-occupancy vehicle lanes. He also wants to extend rail lines along major freeways from downtown to the city limits.
"You've got to get people out of their cars," he said. "There's no reason someone in Kingwood, Humble, Katy, (U.S.) 290 north, Clear Lake, anywhere out past the Beltway on Interstate 10 either way, should be driving into work."
I almost pity the poor blogHouston reader, trying to choose between those alternatives.
You underestimate the breadth of the readership. For example, I don't think think all the journalists and political types who read the little blog do so looking for an alternative to Bill White. :)
I'm pretty sure they're not there looking for alternatives to Ed Emmett either, but who knows, maybe some folks read it that way. *shrug*
What they aren't going to get is a blog that promotes one party or the other. Nothing wrong with your choice or the choice of others in that regard, but surely the blogosphere can accommodate more diversity than that. Embrace the D! (Oh wait, Ds are always embraced here! Heh, sorry, couldn't help myself) :)
Posted by: Kevin Whited on October 22, 2007 6:03 PMBecause nothing promotes a diversity of views in the blogosphere like the same "I hate Bill White, I hate Metro, I hate Chief Hurtt, I hate inconvenient statistics" posts recycled over and over, complete with the Greek chorus in the comments repeating itself.
I actually think they need to sell the auto-post-generation technology; they could make a fortune.
Posted by: John on October 22, 2007 7:23 PMKevin seems to underestimate the intelligence of his readership if he thinks we don't know he's pushing a partisan, Republican agenda.
Posted by: Greg Wythe on October 23, 2007 9:44 AM