Politex

White calls for term limits on governor's office

Eight years is enough, says White, the Democrat seeking to unseat Republican Rick Perry.

He'll expand on his statement during an appearance later today in Fort Worth.

Tarrant may send voting machines to Houston

Tarrant County may loan election voting machines to Harris County for the upcoming election, after a fire destroyed Harris County’s entire inventory of 10,000 machines Friday.

Tarrant County Election Administrator Steve Raborn said he has been in contact with Harris County election officials.

“Although there has been no request for equipment from Harris County, we are evaluating our inventory to see what we might be able to offer,” Raborn said.

Both Tarrant County and Harris County use eSlate electronic voting machines manufactured by Hart Intercivic. Tarrant County also uses the company’s eScan units, which digitally scan paper ballots.

Tarrant County purchased 50 additional eSlate machines following the high turnout in the 2008 presidential election.

“We may be able to loan Harris County some of those additional eSlates along with some eScan units, however Harris County has not previously used eScans,” Raborn said.

Early voting starts Oct. 18. To be ready in time, Harris County may need to change its election routine, Raborn said. The county might decide to use some paper ballots along with electronic voting machines. They might also consider temporarily switching to a vote center or "super-precinct" model, in which Election Day voters are allowed to cast a ballot at any county polling location, just like they can during early voting. That model has been used in recent years by a handful of counties as part of a pilot program. 

"They have a monumental task ahead of them,” Raborn said. “I think it is unprecedented for such a large jurisdiction to have to replace their entire voting system in less than 60 days."

-Aman Batheja

Barton: GOP plans tougher oversight of Obama (UPDATED)

US Reps. Joe Barton and Kay Granger were in Fort Worth Friday morning for a rally supporting Boeing’s bid to win an Air Force contract to build aerial refueling tankers.

The event was held at Parker Aerospace’s Fort Worth facility in Granger’s district. The company would supply some of the parts for the aircraft if Boeing wins the bid.

The two Republican lawmakers gave brief speeches. Barton, who’s district is based in Arlington, said he was impressed by Boeing’s bid but was staying neutral on the issue because he's "not an expert on military acquisition.” Granger is also staying neutral on the bid.*

Afterward, I asked Barton and Granger about a story today from Politico that Republicans are planning multiple committee investigations targeting the White House if they gain control of the House in November.

“Well, I don’t think you start talking about strategy until you’re in a position to implement it but obviously I believe it’s a fair statement that Republicans would have a more aggressive oversight plan than the Democrats have had in the last two years,” Barton said.

Barton said he was optimistic that the GOP will pick up enough seats to win back the House in November.

Granger said she had not read the story and declined to comment.

*A previous version of this post incorrectly said that Granger had endorsed Boeing's bid.

-Aman Batheja

Newspapers move forward with debate plans

The five largest newspapers in Texas announced plans this morning to host a gubernatorial debate on Oct. 19.

Both Gov. Rick Perry and former Houston Mayor Bill White will receive invitations today to attend. Perry has repeatedly said he won't debate White until White releases tax returns from the 1990s, when he was deputy energy secretary.

The program will go on whether or not Perry attends, according to the newspapers' editors.

That could mean an hour-long question-and-answer session with just White. Libertarian Katherine Glass is also running but only candidates that poll at 10 percent or higher in September will be invited to the debate.

The newspapers plan to stream the program on their websites. It will also be made available to television stations around the state. If it turns out to be a one-man affair, television stations may choose not to run the event to avoid violating federal regulations that limit how much air time a station can give a particular candidate.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the four other papers ran editorials today urging Perry to agree to the debate.

-Aman Batheja

Obama jokes around in Austin

The White House just added some photos to its official Flickr feed from President Obama's trip to Austin earlier this month.

This shot caught our eye.

Here's the official caption: President Barack Obama jokingly puts his toe on the scale as Trip Director Marvin Nicholson, unaware to the President's action, weighs himself as the presidential entourage passed through the volleyball locker room at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, Aug. 9, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

 

-Aman Batheja

Birthday for Ron Paul

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul turns 75 today and some of his supporters hope the occasion will build momentum for a money bomb for his son, Rand Paul, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky.

The Texas congressman from Surfside continues to lead a passionate group of supporters left over from his 2008 presidential campaign. He has not ruled out another run for the White House in 2012.

Earlier this month, a poll from Public Policy Polling suggested Paul could play the role of spoiler if he decided to run as an independent.

Speaking of birthdays, if he ran again, Paul’s age would likely become a campaign issue. In 2008, John McCain faced questions over whether he was too old to run for president. He was only 72 at the time.

-Aman Batheja

Texas Supreme Court denies Democrat's ballots request

The Texas Supreme Court denied a request Thursday to consider allowing a Fort Worth Democrat to be added to the November ballot even though she didn’t run in the primary.

Lawyer Candace Taylor filed a petition with the court Tuesday against Secretary of State Hope Andrade and Tarrant County Elections Administrator Steve Raborn arguing that she should be the Democratic candidate for the 432nd District Court.

Some background: Tom Zachry won the Republican primary for the position, beating out Ruben Gonzalez. Weeks later, Zachry died in a boating accident.

Local Republican precinct chairs nominated Gonzalez to take Zachry’s place on the ballot.

Meanwhile, local Democrats nominated Taylor to be their candidate but the Secretary of State’s office said Democrats had had their chance in the primary.

In her petition, Taylor argued that she and other Democrats had a good reason why they didn't run in the primary: They were all supporting a Republican.

"Ms. Taylor and the Democratic Party generally were satisfied that Mr. Zachry would be an excellent judge, which was an important reason why the Democratic Party chose not to run a candidate in the primary elections for the 432nd District Court," the petition reads.

The Supreme Court's decision leaves Gonzalez, who was appointed to the seat by Gov. Perry, as the only candidate left on the ballot. Neither the Libertarians nor the Green Party fielded a candidate.

Tarrant County Democratic Party Steve Maxwell said he expects Taylor will be on the ballot in the next election cycle.

-Aman Batheja

Angle raising money in North Texas today

Nevada Republican Sharron Angle is in the Metroplex today raising cash for her fight against US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Angle was scheduled to attend a fundraising breakfast in Irving this morning.

Later today, she is scheduled to attend a fundraiser in Denton.

The Denton Republican Party's website is promoting the event as an opportunity to "meet Harry Reid's replacement."

The race between Angle and Reid has gained national attention. Recent polls show the race in a dead heat. The Washington Post recently offered an overview of some of the mud slinging in the race.

Aman Batheja

Texas tests won't feature NPR host's work

Peter Sagal is getting over a pretty bad week.

First off, he got hit by a car. The Chicago writer and humorist is recovering from his injuries (which he has described as an "invisible angry dwarf" stabbing him in the back) and expects to return to his duties as host of NPR's "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!" on the first weekend of September.

Then, while laid up in a hospital bed, Sagal found out Texas students were not, as originally planned, going to read one of his plays as part of a standardized English test.

Sagal had written on his blog and on Twitter that a private testing company working on behalf of the Texas Education Agency had contacted him about using his short play, Game Theory, in some testing materials. He expected to make $2,000 off the deal.

As he explained online, Sagal didn't know whether to accept the offer because the company wanted to edit the phrase "For God's Sake" out of the play. Sagal said he was told the phrase might be considered offensive by Texas education officials. (More details here.)

After some agonizing, Sagal agreed to change the dialogue to "For Pete's sake."

Sagal's decision to publicize the deal means it's is now off, according to TEA spokeswoman Debbie Graves Ratcliffe.

“We’re big fans of Peter Sagal but unfortunately this won’t show up on any tests,” Ratcliffe said. “It’s no longer a secure testing item. We could have people practicing on that play all year so they can answer that question."

Sagal said no one told him he had to keep the arrangement a secret.

His plan was to donate the $2,000 to Jo Carson, a friend and writer in Tennessee who is struggling to cover the costs of fighting colon cancer.

Sagal said he's still planning to make a donation and encourage others to also support a fund set up for Carson.

Despite the initial interest, Sagal said he doesn't expect any of his other writing to make it into official Texas education materials.

"I have a feeling I may have blown my chance in Texas," Sagal said.

(Photo via kuer90.1 on Flickr.)

-Aman Batheja

Democrats going different ways on Ground Zero mosque

Congressman Chet Edwards, D-Waco, is the latest Democratic member of Congress to say they oppose the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York. Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the U.S. Senate, also came out against the planned mosque today. It's been an especially touchy topic for Democrats seeking re-election to Congress because President Barack Obama said in a Friday night speech that Muslims have a right to build the mosque. Democrats nationwide have questioned the wisdom of Obama making the comments because Republicans will use it in this fall's campaigns for the control of Congress. But the White House reiterated today that Obama thought it was "his obligation as president" to speak out on the contentious issue.

-- John Gravois