Politex

Local Texan scaring up some votes on Halloween

Brandi Tressler is a crazy talented pumpkin carver born and raised here in Watauga. Her photostream on Flickr includes dozens of amazing pumpkin carvings. We liked this one:

-Aman Batheja

Hoover in '28. Nixon in '72. Somebody in '00.

Through the years: Enjoy this gallery of local front pages on the mornings after major presidential elections.

-- John Metz

Texas A&M students hold anti-Obama carnival, egg Obama poster

Texas A&M's Young Conservatives of Texas held the event which attracted complaints from some students. The organizers encouraged attendees to throw eggs at a photo of Barack Obama.
Some photos from the event are here.

Esquire magazine endorses: Granger and a lot of Democrats

Esquire magazine has announced its Congressional endorsements, bluntly and ungrammatically headlined: "Who People in Texas Should Vote For."

Esquire likes a lot of Democrats: Rick Noriega and even two local congressional longshots, Tom Love and Ludwig Otto.

Esquire endorses Otto despite describing him as "hapless." (That grainy picture at left is the photo on Otto's Web site.)

The magazine lists Sen. John Cornyn as one of "The 10 Worst Members of Congress." But Esquire did single out Kay Granger as a "Cowtown moderate."

In three Texas districts, the magazine suggested writing in some other candidate.

--Bud Kennedy

No "y'alls" in Colorado

Texans heading off to Colorado to help campaign for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama have been given one piece of advice: Don't say "y'all."

Apparently, Colorado folks don't take too well to the Texas-talk.

-- Anna M. Tinsley

Politics and football?

   OK football fans. If you haven't decided who you're going to support for president, you've got one more chance to hear from the candidates -- Monday, during halftime of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins game.

ESPN's Chris Berman will interview both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain during the Monday Night Football game, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m.

Both candidates agreed to a one-on-one interview (pending any last minute schedule changes) via satellite with Berman. The interviews will be taped earliler in the day and should air around 9:15 p.m.

"This presents a unique opportunity for John McCain and Barack Obama to reflect upon the last few months and address a large primetime audience on the final day of the campaigns," said Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president, production.

-- Anna M. Tinsley

Rick Perry flashback: Obama a "socialist"

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, once rumored as a vice presidential nominee, was calling Barack Obama a "socialist" months ago.

This is from a February column on a Perry appearance at a Dallas bookstore:

"Forty miles and a political time warp away from Sen. Barack Obama's Fort Worth rally, aspiring author Gov. Rick Perry addressed a much cozier Dallas crowd Thursday night.

At a signing party for his new Boy Scout book, On My Honor, Perry told about 300 book shoppers that he wants to defend the Scouts' honor, morality and virtue against those who would reduce the Scouts' principles to a "shapeless form of relativity."

Afterward, he frowned at Obama's message.

" 'Hope?' " he said, rolling his eyes. "I'm for 'hope.' "

The crowds lining up for Obama are "going to his rock concert," Perry said, calling Obama a "socialist."

I asked whether he'd ever seen anything comparable to crowds Obama was drawing.

"Sure," he said, grinning.

"The Beatles. The Rolling Stones. The Who."

He frowned again.

"I just don't want anybody like that running my country."

--Bud Kennedy

Controversies from presidential race creeping into Texas

The controversy over Barack Obama's involvement with ACORN has spilled over into the District 96 race between Republican State Rep. Bill Zedler and Democrat Chris Turner. S-T Reporter Traci Shurley has the scoop.

And over at our Extra Credit blog, S-T reporter Eva-Marie Ayala tells us about a Texas school district that has forbid an elementary teacher from wearing an Obama T-shirt to school.

Tell us about your voting experience

Whether you're early voting this week or casting your ballot on Tuesday, we want to hear about it.

Click here to tell us about your voting experience. We're particularly on the lookout for any voting irregularities including equipment problems, long lines or any efforts to try to disenfranchise voters.

And if you had an awesome voting experience that's got you bursting with civic pride, we'd love to hear about that too.

-Aman Batheja

Third Party Debate Oct. 30 - Finally

Well, it is finally happening. After an embarrassing series of fits and starts, the major third party candidates
are debating Thursday in Cleveland. The debate, sponsored by the City Club of Cleveland, will be from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST.

-- Maria Recio

Independent Ralph Nader and Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr are confirmed to attend and Constitution Party
nominee Chuck Baldwin may also participate. An earlier debate scheduled Oct. 19 at Columbia University was canceled after none
of the minor party candidates, including Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney, would agree to participate.
A last-minute debate between Nader and Baldwin was held in Washington Oct. 21 but the inclusion of Barr in Cleveland makes the event noteworthy.

Nader and Barr are on the ballot in 45 states and the Constitution Party is on 37 state ballots.
C-Span will tape the event and it can be seen live at www.votenader.org/live.
There will also be a debate by the third party vice presidential candidates Nov. 2 in Las Vegas.