The Republicans and the Mayorals

DosCentavos has never been against a Democrat seeking Republican support in nonpartisan races.  If a Republican wants to support a Democrat without the Democrat selling out, without avoiding issues, or without “talking tough” on some issues to appease the Republicans, then I call that a vote earned.  But if a Democrat avoids, sells out, or takes a strategy of appeasement, then even candidates I support can expect to get a drubbing from DosCentavos.  And, now, going after that Republican vote is becoming a topic of discussion.

ABC13s resident professor has his take.

This year things might be different.  Gene Locke certainly hopes so, as he is clearly trying not only to unite the black community behind his candidacy, but to also run strong in Republican areas on the west side of town.

But there’s unity for a cause, and unity for politics sake.  Is Gene Locke a cause, or just plain ol’ politics as usual?  Given his support from Lanier and Lee Brown, as well as some Democratic political VIPs, that may not look good to a run-of-the-mill Republican voter who doesn’t hang out at Houston Partnership meetings.  Of course, the same goes for Annise Parker and Peter Brown.  They should stay true to a progressive agenda that is good for Houston when reaching Republicans.

The Chron also ran an article on the Republican vote in the mayorals.  Local GOP Consultant Allan Blakemore, who received some thumps on the head from a few bloggers, basically told the truth about how Republicans think.

“They know enough about Annise to be scared off,” he noted, referring to her sexual orientation and progressive background. “They may look at Gene and go, ‘the last African-American mayor we had didn’t work out so well,’ ” he said, referring to Lee Brown’s low approval ratings when he left office. “Peter is way, way too left, if and when they find anything out about him. But if they don’t, maybe they’ll look at him and say, ‘Well, maybe he’s a nice, old guy.’ So far, it’s hard to tell. This campaign is late to jell .”

Let’s face it, we all know this stuff is not made up.

Ultimately, the left-leaning mayoral candidates should earn Republican votes, not by trying to sound like Republicans, but by forcing those Republicans who want to do their duty and vote to actually choose between progressive agendas.  If that means announcing that they want to rid HPD of 287(g), then they should do it, instead of “talking tough,”  (Annise) having reservations (Locke), or straddling a wobbly fence (Peter).

And where does Roy Morales stand?  Well, this Kingwood resident will never forget working a polling location and overhearing a group of Republicans showing up to “do their duty” during the At-Large 3 Special Election Run-off only to look at the sample ballot (Noriega vs Morales) and exclaim, “I ain’t voting between two Mexicans.”

Sorry, Roy, that’s  your reality as a “Mexican” Republican, just ask Perry-appointee Javier Rodriguez.