According to the KJEVDR, after the first four days, in Harris County, 29,931 have voted by mail or in person in the city elections.  61% are Anglo, 28% African American, 7% Latino, and 4% Asian American.   58% are Dems, 32% are GOPers, and 10% are INDs. (FYI:  51,000 cast early votes in person in round 1 – early voting before Nov. 3, so far 23,119 have voted in person early.)

Of the mail ballots, 68% are Anglo, 27% African American, 4% Latino, and 1% Asian American.  55% are GOPers, 41% Dems, and 4% INDs.

3,722 (12%) are non November 3 voters.  52% are Anglo, 33% are African American, 9% are Latino, and 6% are Asian.  61% are Dems, 26% are GOPers, and 13% are INDs. 

In the first round, close to 10,000 mail ballots were cast in the city elections.  To date, in the run-off, 8,193 have been returned and 10,000 are still out there in the hands of mostly 65 and older voters.

Commentary got called last night and participated in a poll/survey.  It was kind odd because they asked a few questions about head to head matchups between the H-Town Mayor and the GOP Lite Guv for U.S. Senate.

The H-Town Mayor will officially get into the race for Guv today but the bad weather will be this evening’s lead new story.

Other than getting their mugs on national news programs, I don’t understand why Dems hold congressional hearings on the White House party crashers.

Next week the ‘Stros go the MLB Winter Meetings and maybe they can pick up a player or two – stay tuned!

I signed on to help Gene Locke close to a couple of weeks ago to help out wherever I could.  I asked for and received the latest payroll info regarding the Controller’s office.  I crunched the numbers and found out the following:

Average salary for Anglos:  $80,596.

Average salary for Asian Americans: $59,088.

Average salary for African Americans:  $54,086.

Average salary for Latinos:  $53,980.

Of the top ten paid employees in that department:  8 Anglos, 1 Latino, 1 Asian American.  African Americans didn’t crack the top ten.

Don’t even try to defend this.  This isn’t right.  There is no excuse.  This has been going on for the last six years. 

The Harris County Tejano Democrats (HCTD) and Houston Black American Democrats (H-BAD) called out the Controller on her hiring practices.  This is a valid issue to some folks like me.  HCTD and H-BAD were attacked for putting it out in a press release.

The city is over 70% Latino and African American.  Look, in the private sector and the public sector, the folks that draw the bigger salaries are usually the ones that are the most important and make the decisions.  These are just the facts.

I’m sure someone will see fit to crack on me and try to make me look contradictory by pulling out some stuff that I said in the past.  Just don’t try to spin these bad numbers in some other direction.

Yesterday the Controller’s Office got very political and put out a report calling for the County to get off of it’s arse and sign on to the soccer stadium deal.  I kind of found it a bit disingenuous in light of the fact that she cracked on the soccer stadium in her earlier TV ads.

According to the KJEVDR, 10% of the voters are non Nov. 3.  They are Latino at 9%, African American at 34%, Asian American at 6%, and Anglos at 51%.  They are DEM 59%, REP 21%, No Primary 20%.  I wonder who this helps.

From MLB’s Brian McTaggart:  “Free-agent infielder Placido Polanco, who won his second Gold Glove this year for the Detroit Tigers, has drawn serious interest from the Astros, according to baseball sources.

Polanco, 34, is a 12-year veteran who batted .285 with 10 home runs and 72 RBIs last season with the Tigers and finished 25th in the American League voting for Most Valuable Player. A two-time Gold Glove winner, Polanco was the MVP of the 2006 AL Championship Series.   He’s a .303 career hitter.”

Former ‘Stro Billy Wagner is now with the Braves.

The Kyle Johnston Early Voting Daily Report came out yesterday for the first day of early voting and it looks like roughly 10% of the city total are folks that didn’t vote on November 3.  Of course this is only one day so we can’t conclude anything.  Latinos continue with their “No Se Puede” act and came in at 7% of the citywide total.

The weather forecasters are saying that it could snow here in H-Town this Friday morning.  You heard it here first.  If it does, expect campaign workers to build snowmen at all the early voting locations with their campaign signs attached.  The campaign folks are then going to take photos of their artwork and send them out to CEWDEM so CEWDEM can forward to 9,000 folks.  Then Everyone Knew Her as Nancy will check them out and hand out her award for Best Frosty the Political Snowman of the run-off.

Speaking of, I wonder how Everyone Knew Her as Nancy will grade last night’s mayoral debate on Channel 13. 

H-Town’s Grinches – Salvation Army, Houston Fire Department, and Outreach Program – are backing away sort of on checking for papers of needy kids for their toy drives.  I guess the realized that they could end up looking like Scrooge arseholes throughout the rest of the country.  Stay tuned.

Here’s what Carol Alvarado had to say about the matter:

"The holidays are a time for giving — not a time to discriminate.  It is not right to punish innocent children for decisions made by their parents.  I believe that the majority of the people who are donating money or gifts to needy children would not want organizations like the Salvation Army to discriminate against disadvantaged children who deserve to experience the joy of Christmas."

Take that!

On CNN yesterday, leading up to last night’s Presidential Address, Tiger was getting just as much coverage as the troop build-up – go figure.

Speaking of, Tiger today admitted to shortcomings and “transgressions” and is asking if he can take a Mulligan. 

The ‘Stros will try to work something out with Jose Valverde.   Miggy and LaTroy are still options but they will be free to deal with other clubs.  We will see.

Apparently the Salvation Army is not giving out toys this Christmas to paperless kids.  Think about that the next time you visit a Walgreen’s and walk by the fella with the big black bucket in Santa gear ringing a bell.  Check out the story in today’s Chron.   During Christmas a kid’s immigration status shouldn’t be factored into getting on Santa’s naughty or nice list. I’m sorry but Santa and his elves don’t take guidance from ICE on who gets toys.

The fella that escaped from custody in Baytown yesterday got loose a few blocks from my parents’ pad – yikes!  For those that are still old school like Commentary and read a hard copy of the Chron, the front page pic of the posse is straight out of one of those spaghetti westerns.

Ever since September 11, 2001, a bit more patriotism has been injected into professional sporting events like MLB and the NFL.  On Sunday and holidays, “God Bless America” precedes “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch at The Yard.  There are a lot more military aircraft flyovers before games.  Just this past Sunday at the Texans game, right after the singing of the nation anthem that only Commentary and a few others sing, six helicopters roared over the stadium. I still say if they are going to do that, in order to solve the GITMO issue, toss a few Al-Qaida detainees on to the field and riddle their arses.

Commentary forgot to mention that yesterday was Bethany’s BD.  Happy Birthday yesterday to Bethany Arnold!

With deadlines approaching, the ‘Stros will probably announce what moves they will be making so stay tuned! 

Early voting in the run-off election begins today.   Will Latino voter turnout decrease?   How many non November 3 voters will show up – 1000, 5000, or plus 10,000.  If any new voters show up, from what ‘hoods?   I’m sure the Kyle Johnston Daily Early Vote Report will help answer some of these questions.  I wonder if some of the labor folks will ask other Dems to stay away from the KJDEVR.

We will be officially informed this week on the H-Town Mayor’s decision to run for Guv.  The Chron had a piece on the race this past weekend and a point was missed – sort of.   Check out the story.  In the piece, here is what a noted political scientist from SMU said:  “Nobody knows whether he (Bill White) has that next gear to generate excitement in a statewide race, whether he can go down into the Rio Grande Valley and pull people out, whether he can put enough money into it and raise enough money to wage a credible fistfight in the street.”  I’ve said it a kazillion times, it’s not going to happen unless we launch a major Latino voter engagement effort in Harris County.

Commentary got a permission slip to take a few hours off yesterday to take in the Texans game.  The Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was A-OK but the Texans weren’t. 

I’m not going to say anything about Vince and his 99 yard drive with 2:37 minutes left and a 10 yard game winning TD pass as time ran out against the Cardinals.  I’m not going to say anything about his 387 yards passing and winning five in a row since he’s been named the starter.  I’m also not going to say anything about the Titans being 0-6 and now 5-6 just like the Texans.

I’m not going to say anything about Tiger either.  The way I figure he was probably tired of the fancy Thanksgiving Day grub and around 2:30 am he decided he wanted to make a McDonald’s run.  I don’t care how he banged up his lip or his ride.  I don’t care that we didn’t know about it for 13 hours.

Already it looks like a 15 minutes of fame deal for Rachel Uchitel who the tabloids are trying to link to Tiger.  She gets the thumbs down in my book for hiring the always annoying and camera hogging Gloria Allred.

Former ‘Stro Shane Reynolds is on the Hall of Fame ballot but he won’t get too many votes.  Today is Cyber Monday so I just might try everythingbaseball or MLB.com. 

Commentary has called it right so far by saying Guv Dude is driving the agenda in the GOP gubernatorial primary.  He’s gotten Hutch to stay put.  Now they are launching Operation Intervention which is designed to get Dude backers to lean on Hutch backers to get her out of the race.  Talk about playing offense.  I t really wouldn’t surprise me if she just decided to surrender.  You know he is going to bang her around on letting the town of Sealy lose that huge Defense Department contract and a few thousand jobs.  The Defense Department contract issue is the lead story in today’s Chron.  Check it out. 

Here is the opening line of my pal Bill King’s latest take on the run-off election: “With Democrats breaking largely along racial lines and Latinos showing little interest in the current mayor’s race, white-suburban-Republican-leaning (WSRL) voters will likely to be the deciding factor in the runoff.”

Commentary capped off last night by checking out Sir Paul on ABC.  He’s not only for the ages, he’s for all ages.

My Best Friend celebrated a BB yesterday.  Happy Birthday yesterday Al Luna!

Pam-In-Charge who I sometimes refer to as My Brown Girl is celebrating one today.  Happy Birthday Pam Gardner!

Speaking of, just when I thought they were through handing out awards, I was wrong according to Tag: “ The streak-of-lightning speed of center fielder Michael Bourn, the slick fielding of second baseman Kaz Matsui and the spacious jersey of reliever Jeff Fulchino have the Astros trio in contention for two of MLB.com’s This Year in Baseball Awards. . Bourn, who won his first Rawlings Gold Glove earlier this month, and Matsui are two of 10 players up for Defensive Player of the Year, and Fulchino’s bizarre play that saw a batted ball get stuck in his jersey is a contender for the Oddity of the Year.”

Stay tuned!

Now that the H-Town Mayor is fixing to get into the race for Guv, he’s got to take on the mother of all the Lone Star State’s public policy issues – funding for our public schools.  The Chron has a front page story on school funding today.  Check it out.  It is a big problem that needs addressing. 

There is also the issue of increasing the gas tax that some Dem and GOP legislators are calling for so we can use the funds to fix and repair highways and roads.  Guv Dude and Hutch will oppose for now.  I’m figuring the H-Town Mayor will try to sidestep the issue.

Well one of the questions was answered in today’s Chron regarding the fate of the H-Town Mayor’s Chief of Staff. Check it out.

Of course, Commentary’s not ready to lay some money on who will win.  Guv Dude first got elected to the Texas House in 1984 and he hasn’t lost yet.  Dems haven’t won a statewide race this century.  Before I head out to Vegas and place a bet, I’ll wait to see if Dems put together a serious Latino voter engagement effort.

Commentary’s favorite – Katie Couric – was one of the notables that attended last night’s state dinner.  She showed up with her new boyfriend who just happens to be fifteen years younger.  I don’t have a problem with that.  Go Coogs!

One place to avoid today is Spec’s in Midtown. It is cwazy out there the day before Thanksgiving Day.  I made my run last night.

Congrats go to Albert Pujols for winning the NL MVP.  We have to wait until Friday, July 9 before we get to see Albert and the Cards at The Yard.  I think that wraps up all the awards for this past season.

Commentary will take tomorrow off but will be back on Friday so have a nice Thanksgiving Day!

It turns out that Schieffer fella is not that big of a dumbarse after all.  He got out of a race he never should have entered.  Well he still is a dumbarse of sorts for actually thinking a lot of Dems would embrace his candidacy for guv of the Lone Star State.  A lot of Dems across the state just weren’t into a forgiving mood for his years of playing grabarse with 43.  In his statement yesterday he said “we simply must get behind one candidate that can unite our party.”  Huh!  I didn’t know we Dems were disunited.

Meanwhile, H-Town’s Mayor who is probably the smartest person in the state is a listener after all.  For months, folks have been advising the Mayor to run for Guv.  The Mayor finally got it after Hutch decided to stay put for a while.

Local Harris County Dems are feeling pretty good because now they will have someone at the top of the ticket that will expend resources to get out the base and pull in independents.

We now probably know one of the answers to a question at City Hall.  What will Chief of Staff Michael Moore be doing after December 31?

Now that we have a strong candidate at the top of the ticket, expect to see other strong Dems run for some of the statewide down ballot positions.

Even though Farouk Shami and Hank Gilbert say they are still in it, they will eventually have to read and accept the handwriting on the wall and get out of the race.  Who care what The Kinkhole does.  His isn’t a campaign anyway, it’s a book tour.

Of course, unless Lone Star State Dems get serious about putting together a Latino voter engagement effort, yesterday’s hoopla could all be for naught.  The current Lone Star State Dem Party Chair doesn’t get it.  I’m betting the H-Town Mayor will.

This morning is reminiscent of all those times back in the Luv Ya Blue era when the Steelers, Bills, Chiefs and other AFC teams would put a hurt on our Oilers and we would have a loser’s hangover the next day – usually a Monday morning.   Vince and the Titans punked us last night on national TV and we’re feeling it this morning.

Things are quiet at The Yard these days on the free agent front.  No news to report.

Maybe this will be the first year that The Roundtable does a two-fer on picking the run-off winners.  I think there are still nine races on the ballot.  A mayoral, controller, two district city council, three at-large council, and two HISD trustee contests are yet to be decided.  That would make for a good pot right before Christmas.  Plus UH’s Dr. Murray could throw in a question on voter turnout – better or worse than November 3.  I wonder what the record is for most races on the ballot in a run-off.  Speaking of, there has never been a run-off in a Houston City Council District I race if I don’t mind saying.

The best line of the weekend was U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) saying “I don’t want four Democratic Senators dictating to the other 56 of us and to the rest of the country – when the public option has this much support – that (a public option is) not going to be in it.” 

All of H-Town will come to a screeching halt at 7:30 this evening as the Texans play host to Vince and the Titans on MNF.

To folks that are already doing Christmas shopping try going to everythingbaseball.com.  They have the coolest baseball gear.

Alyson’s Footnotes has a nice piece on Roy O’s new Homeplate Fish and Steakhouse that opened this past weekend.  Check it out.  I wonder who will open for us on April 5 – Roy O or Wandy?

I saw where HISD Trustee Larry Marshall was endorsed by two of his former challengers in the run-off.  That is interesting because usually the challengers to an incumbent endorse the remaining challenger in a run-off. 

Oprah is getting more run than health care, Afghanistan, and The President this morning and she still is going to be around for another couple of years. 

Commentary dropped by The Dean’s reception last night.  All the usual suspects showed up including the Lite Guv.   The buzz last night was whether or not we were going to have a U.S. Senate race next year.

My buddy and neighbor Orell Fitzsimmons is featured in a story in today’s Chron.  Check it out. 

If you don’t have anything better to do this Sunday morning at 11:30 am, you can check out Commentary, UH’s Dr. Tatcho Mindiola, Harris County Treasurer Orlando Sanchez, and former City Council Member Gracie Saenz (who by the way never needs touching up) on Channel 13’s “Viva Houston” talking about politics of course.

The good news is that on Opening Day on April 5 we get to watch the 2009 NL Cy Young Award winner.  The bad news is Tim Lincecum pitches for the SF Giants.