The short version: an extremely wealthy New Yorker with very close ties to Rudy Giuliani who has never given a dime to Texas state candidates has recently made his first Texas donation: $100,000 to Governor Rick Perry.  This unexpected donation came at about the time that socially conservative Rick Perry was endorsing Giuliani, giving the former New York governor significant political protection on his right flank.

This event has the appearance of the Texas Governor selling his presidential endorsement for a massive bribe of campaign cash.

This is the whole Sen. Barack Obama speech to which many have objected. In context his Pakistan remarks seem tied to the specific case in which we had hard operational data in 2005 to knock out Bin Ladenists, but did not do so because Rummy overruled the intelligence guys. To say we should not make that mistake again is neither naive nor irresponsible.

There has been a lot of talk as to why Gov. Rick Perry came out in support of a mandatory vaccination of Guardasil for teenage girls ages 12 and up in Texas schools. Well forget the rank hypocrisy of those that pander to the religious right and forget about advocating for the safety of teenagers. You can also forget about the debate over teen promiscuity and if this action encourages it.

What it all boils down to is the money. It really is that simple with this Republican governor.

Crossposted from Joshing Politics

yes, I re-used the diary title & theme. I'm a little tired.

So it's the night before the election & you're wondering what you can do to help out. Well, here's how everybody can help get Democrats elected in Texas. Go to this website:

http://dev.trueblueaction.com/...

sign in, and get a phone list. It's easy - they even give you a script. You can pick any candidate in Texas to call for, it's easy,(relatively) painless, and it needs doing.

Poll open in less than 12 hours, and this marks the final edition of FTP. Has it only been about six weeks? Good lord, it seemed like a second job on some days, including today (of course) as we see the final push of polls before the "only poll that matters"...tomorrow.

Cautionary note--I am sure I have missed a few. Sorry. Today was a work day, and I also had a few other obligations today. I got what I could, which is two national polls and over 50 individual races.

Follow me below the fold for the last of it.....

I don't see that anyone has reported this yet. It's showing at the top of recent polls at Pollster.com...

Polimetrix, as part of the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, which brings together prominent political science researchers from around the country to do a massive national poll just before the election, has a raft of results just released. But I thought the one everyone most wants to hear is this one {pdf}:

Lieberman 48
Lamont 44
Schlesinger 5

DO NOT QUIT!
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Rick Perry: "Non-Christians Condemned to Hell"  

The day before Election Day Rick Perry I believe has finally hit the all time low. I wish Perry made it a week ago as I think these comments are very damaging, at least to us Texans who are not of the brand of christianity Perry ascribes to. The DMN reports Perry agreeing that those who do not accept Christ will go to hell. This is terrible intolerance for a man who is governor of a state with Jews, Muslims, and so many other faiths. I plan to email this story to the local Houston media as I think the voters deserve to hear this one before they pull the lever. This is scary. Im Jewish, so guess the Guv thinks Im going to hell. Oh I hope he loses a shickng defeat by Dem Chris Bell tommorrow. More below..  

Three new national polls, and polling in 47 individual races, marks the penultimate edition of FTP. In so doing, I will also endeavor to alleviate the hand-wringing that strikes so many folks today (myself included).

Follow me below the fold for the numbers, and the analysis.

A quick-hit version of the FTP diary series today, as we do have a handful of new numbers on this pre-election Saturday.

In all, we have one new national poll and new numbers in a total of 17 individual races. For the first time in a while, the mo' is going to more Republican races than Democratic ones...BUT it is worth noting that the races where there is neutral momentum predominate (4 races to 3...with ten at little to no change), and that it includes some races no one cares about anymore (AZ-GOV/NY-SEN).

Follow me after the jump...

This diary is part of the Elections Results Live Blogging project. To view all liveblogging diaries, see FleetAdmiralJ's Election Night Live Blogging mothership.

This diary is covering the results of the following elections:

Nick Lampson (D) vs. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (R) (TX-22)

Will Pryor (D) vs. Pete Sessions (R) (TX-32)

Chris Bell (D) vs. Rick Perry (R) vs. Kinky Friedman (I) vs. Carole Strayhorn (I) (TX-Gov)

TX-22 [open] - 100% reporting
Shelley Sekula-Gibbs [write-in] (R)	60,423	43%
Nick Lampson (D)	73,032	51%
M. Bob Smither (L)	8,494	6%
TX-32 - 100% reporting
Pete Sessions * (R)	71,306	57%
Will Pryor (D)	52,134	41%
TX-GOV - 90% reporting
Rick Perry * (R)	1,584,641	39%
Chris Bell (D)	1,208,531	30%
Kinky Friedman (I)	506,295	12%
Carole Strayhorn (I)	722,468	18%

While this is slightly less data than I expected for a weekend less than two weeks out from the election, we still get quite a bit to chew on in this weekend edition of FTP.

We have one national poll to chew on (as well as a slight trend in the Rasmussen tracking), and we have new numbers in 22 individual contests. I do believe that this is a weekend record, but it is less than the 25-35 contests we have seen polled during the week.

The numbers, with some real good news therein, after the jump.

I'm going to interrupt my series of diaries on my favorite congressional candidate, Ted Ankrum, to tell you how everybody can help get Democrats elected in Texas. If you're sitting in a nice, blue district somewhere far away from Texas, you can help out your less fortunate sisters and brothers. If you live in Texas and this Greg Abbott thing has you pissed off, but you live in a county where you know for a fact that you're the only Democrat, you can still help. Go to this website:

http://dev.trueblueaction.com/...

sign in, and get a phone list. It's easy - they even give you a script.

Another big polling day in the individual races, amid the total silence of national polling that continues into its second full day. Lest anyone spin into conspiracy theories, it is helpful to remember that there were five or six polls released Monday, although CBS and NBC remain conspicuously absent this week.

Meanwhile, across the threshold you will find new numbers in 28 individual races. For those who are following the momentum, today's polling numbers break down as such: Democrats have improved polling results in twelve of these races, Republicans improve in four races, and twelve of them retain neutral (2.5 points or less) momentum.

With that, let's look at the numbers....

This is a quickie diary, but I wanted to share a video clip I happened to take downtown in Austin on Oct. 22 (Sunday). There was a rally of Texas Democrats down Congress Street in downtown Austin, the thought being (correctly) that the best way to honor the memory of former Texas governor Ann Richards would be to bring some attention to Chris Bell and other Democratic candidates in the state.

I couldn't participate in the march myself (I happened to be downtown on other business), but I wouldn't be surprised of some Texas Kossacks were. If so, please share your stories. Otherwise, thanks to YouTube, here's a little taste of the march: Ann Richards Memorial March.

SurveyUSA. 10/21-23. Likely voters. MoE 4.3% (9/16-18 results)

A Rasmussen poll to be released later has it Perry 36 (33), Bell 25 (18), Strayhorn 22 (22), and Kinky Friedman 12 (16).

For starters, it looks like Kinky is bleeding serious support after the emergence of his racist tendencies. The Kinky camp argues that Bell can't win, that only he can get rid of Perry. These numbers show that line of thinking is pure b.s.

If progressives currently flirting with Friedman's joke of a candidacy came home to Bell, he could pull off the upset in the four-way race. Kinky just ain't going to win.

On the web: Chris Bell for Governor

Ah, remember the good old days when I said there wasn't much new polling data to report? Yep, that's done now. And my guess is that it will continue to escalate as we get closer to Election Day 2006.

While there is only a small report on the national scene, it is worth noting that we have new numbers in 31 individual contests.

Well, Hell, enough small talk. Although pay particular attention to the Missouri Senate numbers...I think that they are worthy of debate. So...with that in mind, let's go below the fold.

Most of you already know that Kinky voted for Bush/Cheney '04 and this was the only time he has voted in the in last 14 years (although he lied about voting for Richards in '94, lied about voting for Gore in '00, and lied about voting against discriminatory marital rights in '05).

Kinky has now voted for only the second time in at least 14 years and, again, he voted for the Republican slate.  Immediately after voting, Kinky told the media of his support for Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison and Republican Lamar Smith: "Friedman said he cast ballots for Congressman Lamar Smith and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, whom he said he met Sunday at a Dallas airport. 'She (Hutchison) is not without charm,' he said. 'We have a lot of friends in common.'"

Please tell your Democratic friends that Kinky is just a Republican in a black hat and cigar costume.

I just got off the phone with someone push polling for Texas governor.  I thought it was a real poll at first but then things got ugly.  Things have been quiet here in South Texas, no yard signs, few candidate visits, little if any presence on TV.  Funny for a race with 5 candidates, but somebody out there is trying to get me mad and out to vote.