The Political Buzzers

Gov. Greg Abbott is a despicable human being. He is a liar. He is a coward. He is worse than a piece of sh_t.  See this from the Chron today:

The video, posted by the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE earlier this week, contradicted early information the governor had received about the massacre, he said. Abbott has been heavily criticized for initially saying the shooting “could have been worse” if not for law enforcement response.

“It’s clear that what was shown on the video was the exact opposite of the information I was given on the day I went out and explained what happened during the event,” he said. “None of the information that was in that video was shared with me on that day.

“It was shocking.”

The governor has made similar statements before, declaring he was misled about police actions and “livid” over the situation. He has so far declined to say who provided him the incorrect details.

Abbott and his advisors were in on the cover-up from the beginning. They didn’t know it at the time, but they were way in over their heads. Instead of methodically gathering the facts, they foolishly decided to create their own narrative.

Any respected, trusted, and moral leader would have publicly fired those who deliberately presented false, misleading, and incomplete facts. Abbott hasn’t dismissed anyone because they were all in it together from the get-go. They didn’t think it would unravel as quickly as it did.

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The local political buzz picked up yesterday. First, the UH Hobby School released a poll on the race for Harris County Judge. Then the initial campaign fundraising numbers for the H-Town mayoral race in November 2023 were reported.

Here is from the Chron on the poll numbers:

Democrat Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo holds a lead of 1 percentage point over Republican opponent Alexandra del Moral Mealer in polling results released Thursday by the University of Houston.

Hidalgo leads del Moral Mealer 48 percent to 47 percent among likely voters, with 5 percent undecided, putting the two candidates in a “statistical dead heat” in the county judge race, according to the report.

Renée Cross, senior director of the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston, said she expected to see a competitive race but found the polling numbers somewhat surprising: “We have a popular incumbent that is actually only 1 point ahead of a relatively unknown challenger, particularly a Republican challenger in what I would arguably say is a Democratic county now.”

In the gubernatorial race, Democrat Beto O’Rourke holds a 9 percent lead over Republican Greg Abbott among Harris County’s likely voters, with O’Rourke leading Abbott 51 percent to 42 percent.

The online survey was conducted by the Hobby School of Public Affairs between June 27 and July 7, in English and Spanish, with 321 respondents who are registered to vote in Texas. The margin of error is plus or minus 5.47 percent.

Del Moral Mealer holds an advantage of 31 percentage points over Hidalgo among white voters, while Hidalgo holds a 66-point advantage over del Moral Mealer among Black voters. Del Moral Mealer holds a 3-point edge over Hidalgo among Latino voters. Hidalgo holds a 14-point lead over del Moral Mealer among women, while del Moral Mealer holds a 13-point edge among men.

Del Moral Mealer’s lead among Latino voters is particularly notable, Cross said.

“I would have given the edge to Hidalgo, partly because she’s better known and because, at least in the Harris County region, Latinos tend to vote for Democratic candidates,” she said.

Despite the tight poll numbers, Marc Campos, a longtime Democratic political consultant in Houston, said he believes Hidalgo is in good shape, adding that surveys often do not include older Latino voters.

“I just don’t see them departing from Judge Hidalgo, who they’ve seen on Spanish language TV during a disaster or during COVID, when she ended all her remarks in Spanish, which we’d never seen before for any elected official,” Campos said.

Campos said del Moral Mealer, a political newcomer, has not established name recognition among Latino voters yet.

“Particularly the Spanish-language voting community, which there is a significant chunk of, I don’t think they know who she is, and they certainly don’t know that she’s Latina,” Campos said.

I don’t think it is as close as the poll indicates.

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Now this from the Chron:

Houston’s next mayoral election is not for another 18 months, but the early contenders already are raising heaps of cash and sprinting past the city’s historical benchmarks for fundraising.

Former Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins has taken in more than $1.1 million in the first five months of his bid, according to data his campaign released Thursday. Lee Kaplan, an attorney and political novice, has raised $800,000 and pitched in another $100,000 of his own money, his campaign said. And former City Councilmember Amanda Edwards has raised about $780,000 since launching her candidacy on March 23, her campaign announced.

Each of those numbers far exceed what City Hall contenders historically have reported this far out from the election, as the November 2023 campaigns continue their early start.

And this:

Despite the strong fundraising starts, Whitmire will be the financial heavyweight in the race. The state senator, who has served in the Texas Legislature since 1973, has a war chest of more than $9.7 million in his state account, according to his latest filing.

I am surprised at all three. I looked at the Hollins number yesterday. His report is posted on the city’s website. The other two are not up yet. The reports are due today.

The only thing I can say is can this level of fundraising by all three be sustained.

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Here is from a piece today from the Chron on Dollar Dog Night:

To prep for a Dollar Dog Night, Aramark said it takes the number of tickets sold and multiplies that by the season’s current average of Tuesday dogs sold per person. For this year, that average stands at 1.1 dogs per person.

So, for the 28,762 fans who attended the Astros’ June 5 win over the Royals, Aramark planned to sell more than 31,638 hot dogs.

That’s enough dogs to line the warning track around Minute Maid Park 13 times, according to a company spokesperson.

Aramark also estimated a crowd that size would use a whopping 4,750 lbs of ketchup, 2,375 lbs of mustard and 3,500 lbs of relish.

On average, Minute Maid Park has sold about 43,500 hot dogs every Tuesday since 2018, according to Aramark.

To put that in perspective, 43,500 six-inch hot dogs would span roughly 4.1 miles if lined up in a row.

That number also pales in comparison to the park’s single-night record. One Tuesday in 2019, Minute Maid Park sold over 54,000 hot dogs, a whopping 5.1 miles of dogs.

Commentary is above the average with 2 dogs. They also left off how many pounds of onions are used.

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We won last night. 58-30. We took 4 out of 6 on the road. We host the A’s this weekend for 3 before we take an All Star game break.