6 Days to Go - Getting ugly

Six days to go before the election, and it's getting ugly. I'm not talking about the national campaign, but this Congress race. 

The 20-year incumbent, who hasn't had a sign or campaign office in a decade, suddenly has tons of both. And he's even throwing out negative attack ads, a sure sign of desperation.

My only question is: Where do I sign up to get attacked? Heck, DeLay's giving name recognition to the first-time Democrat challenger by attacking him.  I want some equal time! LOL.

Heck, I'm the one pulling away the incumbents GOP voters, the moderate ones who are tired of him. The Democrat's base is only 35% of the district. There are at least 40% moderate Republicans that refused to vote for DeLay in the March primary in his home county - a greater number. Ummmm.

So, if I get attacked in the next few days, I'll know that I've "arrived."

Actually, like many voters, I'm ready for this election to be OVER. It's gone on too long and is too negative. I have tried to focus on issues instead of mudslinging, but mudslinging is winning out...where's my mud ball?

Campaign End stage

The campaign is, thankfully, near an end. The outsome is still uncertain. I just saw a poll that said the incumbent (DeLay) is at 47% --pretty low for a 20-year incumbent. It seems like every day there is another story in the papers about his ethics or other problems.

We actually got to debate at a candidate forum hosted by the Clear Lake High School debate team - DeLay waited until 30 minutes before it started to call and say he was coming. When I got the word I immediately called the TV stations, who started walking in during the debate--too late for him to duck and run.

Afterward, to my amazement, a lot of people came up and said how I had impressed them. About half of them said they were switching their vote to me as a result. Too bad it wasn't televised live. My poll numbers would skyrocket.

So the underdog continues to do it grass roots. Ended up on another TV station tonight.

I am TIRED. Ready to wrap this up. It's an excitiing finish. No clue as to how it will come out yet. Anything could happen.

 

DeLay's Aides Indicted While I fix my car

I had a radio talk show interview today, Meria Heller from Arizona, then was getting my car transmission fluid changed --which was taking forever since it was a trade with a client who couldn't afford to pay -- when news broke of several of my opponent's (Tom DeLay) aides getting indicted.  I didn't find out about it until news time.

Suddenly, things are changing. Anything could happen, with 40 days to go to election day. God works in mysterious ways!

Reving Up

Thank God August is dead. I felt as if  I'd been fried under a microwave all month. September SOUNDS cooler, even when it's still hot.

The political season has begun. My underdog campaign against the dragon DeLay somehow survived the heat and the economy that has been on life support. The trickle down economics hasn't really been trickling - I think the heat evaporated it on the way down.

Florida must have really ticked off the big guy in the sky - two hurricanes in one season! First Charley, then Francis. And it may get knocked down again by Ivan. That what happens when you hang chads and let Ralph Nader back on the ballot!

Ummm. Heat may have fried some of my brain, or Ralph's - along with everyone else running. DeLay is polling 45%, the lowest ever and is promising if he gets reelected he'll start eating vegetables again. Ok, maybe not vegetables...

Later..Henri the dog is demanding a break. Never deny a dog that needs to go...

Ant Bites

Blogging has been zero due to extreme heat and a full schedule.

I have a long red blotch on my ankles that itchs like mad from fire ant bites - apparently they penetrated through a hole in my sock as I was walking the district.

It's finally a bit cooler for a few days, after hitting 110 heat index for days on end. My nose looks like Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer from keeping my car top open for ventilation (A/C is still out and needs to be converted from an R 12 to one of the new systems that doesn't kill ozone - not sure it's worth it).

A client needed some help so ended up going to L.A. on a case (a big company attacking his little one, the usual) - but in this economy cash is tight so he could pay only part of it. The rest he wanted to pay via a barter with a third party --to get me something I need, a pickup. Well, the pickup looks great but instead of running well it has a dead engine.

It reminds me of the depression stories. "Thanks Doc for your help, but gee, we've got no cash -- but we can give you a chicken and a goat!"

Well, I didn't get a goat but I did get a pickup that doesn't (yet) work. Amazing. I took it. I figured "Half a truck is better than none."  In time I can always get a motor in it and will enjoy driving something that hauls my stuff and has a working A/C!

While I'm trying to survive and take in chickens and pickups for fees, the other two candidates have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars - one has spent a million -- yet both of them have gone DOWN in the polls!  Amazing.....

With less than $10,000 I - the 3rd candidate-have been going UP (I had no where else to go).

I found out that the incumbent polls without using my name (giving him false numbers since it only compares him vs a Democrat) and the Dems poll using the independent me -- and it shows my being on the ballot has dropped the incumbent below 49% without my even making a phone call or a mailing.

Not to bad when you running against someone who has been in power as long as Saddam and has more money than some countries!

Tells me the boy's in a heap of trouble. We could yet see a David topple a Goliath.

We could use one of those stories, especially when you scan the awful headlines - Iraq is still a hellhole, politicians are being overly partisan and the whole world really needs a makeover and fresh faces in leadership...

We'll see what happens. I have to go check, after a long absence, the blog of the Iraqi girl who lives in Baghdad - to get the real facts of what is happening over there.

I don't think our gov't or media really gives us an accurate picture than someone living in it....more later, when the ant bites subside.

Mike

The Whirlwind Begins - 9 11 Report Released

Americans should unplug their air conditioners to get a feel for what our troops and civilians in Iraq are going through, only more so.  Last night our 13-year old house air conditioner gave up the ghost and died.

In Houston, loss of air conditioning is treated like instant death. People grab their phones and ranson their kids to buy a new working compressor if it goes out in July when its hitting triple digit heat index.  A new one was $3,500 - a fortune to most people (including me).  The house felt like a sticky hot box. Imagine going through that all day, day after day, month after month in Iraq as one of our soldiers, or as an Iraqi civilian?  We need to remember that.

Got to run - New A/C is humming, Thank God. 9 11 report just came out. More on that later. It was like a Compressor blowing it in it's revelations.

No Time

I've had no time, or energy, to blog lately. 

Our Houston summer has turned from rain to HOT AS HADES and the A/C remains out of action on my '90 Mercedes (at least it's paid for and still rolling with 261,000 miles so far - I'm tempted to see how far it will go).

The election is heating up and Iraq and the economy are said to be the key deciding factors that will swing the swing voters who will decide this dead heat. The voters I talk to on the street don't reflect the happy numbers coming out of DC - the hiring of burger flippers is up, but not engineers or real jobs.

I caught a bug last Thursday that had me throwing up and it took several days for it to give up, so I'm just now getting rolling again. But it's summer and people's minds are on vacation and I can't blame them. It's good to have some fun when the news has been awful and the times have been hard for most. Some escape helps keep one's sanity unless you have already lost your mind, then the escape helps those who have to put up with you! I know my wife would agree with that.

Interesting. We have Dick Cheney telling a senior Senator "F*** You" and then  goes on a road trip talking about how their team has superior values. Ummmmm.

Campaign 2004: "Our foul language is of higher quality than the other guys!"

 Perhaps that's the new definition of values.

I think this is not what most Americans think equals values.

I don't think Americans like arrogance. Or false values, or hypocrites who do what they condemn, often at the same time.

I don't think they like those who never apologize for bad behavior while claiming they have "values."  We'll see.

The good thing about democracy is that we have a chance to change the players and start fresh. Boy, we need a fresh start ...