A Houston Chronicle/Zogby poll indicates that we pundit/journalist types may have greatly underestimated the intelligence of voters in Congressional District 22. The conventional wisdom has been that Democrat Nick Lampson was a shoo-in because the only Republican in the race is a write-in. That is because even though Tom DeLay withdrew from the race and had his name removed from the ballot, courts ruled that he was nonetheless the nominee chosen by GOP primary voters in May and state party leaders could not arbitrarily replace his name with another Republican. It has been assumed that the write-in campaign of Houston city council member Shelley Sekula-Gibbs wouldn't stand a chance because remembering her name and typing it in would be just too hard. Not so, says the Zogby Poll: 36% support Lampson, but 35% say they'll support a write-in candidate, and most of those write-ins say they will be for Sekula-Gibbs. "Punditry was coloring the district blue," Zogby told the Houston Chronicle. "It's still a Republican district. Even harder than selling a write-in, is selling a Democrat in this district."

Take a look at the BCS Standings. With Oregon State's upset of USC on Saturday, the Ohio State/Michigan game (in two weeks) and this Thursday's West Virginia/Louisville games loom as virtual semifinal matchups. The only real hitch being that West Virginia and Louisville both have games with Rutgers and Pitt. As for the Texas Longhorns, I say they're out of it. Ohio State, Michigan, Florida, Auburn, and Notre Dame will all get in with one loss before Texas will, because of the Longhorns’ weak schedule. Not to mention that they're 112th in the nation in pass defense and don't deserve to be anywhere near the BCS championship game, except, maybe, ironically, to play in Fiesta Bowl One on New Year's Day against Boise State. Enjoy. If I were a Longhorn or a fan, I think I'd rather go to the Holiday Bowl and at least get in some beach time. I will also take this opportunity to predict that Nebraska or Missouri will win the Big 12 championship game, and Texas will end up in the Cotton Bowl against the SEC runner-up. Enjoy.

The only time I laughed during the clash of the Longhorns and Red Raiders was at a shirt in the stands. It read “Tuck Fexas.” Now that spark of creativity is a natural for Panhandle folks, who claim Buddy Holly and the Flatlanders as their own. Of course, who wouldn’t be creative when the goal is to get the hell out of the flat, blustery nowhere as quick as you can? Out-of-town Texas Tech frosh are quickly clued in to the need for Chapstick and the cruel, cruel trick of keeping all of the booze stores outside the city limits. Talk about a dry town.

But that’s not what I’m writing about here. I’m interested in the new instant replay rule, which reared its ugly, dust-blown head one too many times during the game. Count 'em. Six disputed calls reconsidered. Five of them stood. The other, a touchdown run by Texas QB Colt McCoy, was inconsequential as the Horns punched it right in for a score.

Sigmund Freud, when he wasn’t talking about your attraction to your mother, called our fixation with technology the “prosthetic god,” and opined that what we think will make our lives simpler, actually mucks up the works. So it is with instant replay. Perhaps the money would be better spent training refs to make the right call the first time. Oh, wait, they did five times out of six and the sixth didn’t matter.

Plus the human element has not been removed. The disputes now are about when to call for a review or fouls missed entirely. It’s a game after all. Why should we figure machines are going the make the results clear? Next thing you know we’ll make all of our voting machines electronic. Oops. Forget I said that.

I’m interested in what you, dear readers, think on the subject. Fire away.

All you eye-glazed city staffers take note (we're looking at you, Brewster): quit hitting your refresh button and get some fresh air. Specifically, if you head over to Sixth and Lamar, you'll enter the land of Oz. Affordable housing advocates and Prop 5 proponents HousingWorks Action will be there from from 11:30am to 1pm and again from 4:30pm to 6pm in Wizard of Oz garb, letting prospective voters and befuddled drive-timers know "there's no place like home." Where else could you hope to see Mark Yznaga in pigtails and ruby slippers?

Regarding last week's edict from the Travis County Libertarian Party advising against all seven bond propositions, 7 Steps For a Better Austin spokesperson Mark Nathan had something to say. As reported in this morning's edition of In Fact Daily, Nathan opined "Extreme fiscal conservatism is one thing, but it's hard not to recoil in horror when someone suggests that flea markets and taco stands should suffice to serve as Hispanic cultural centers in Austin. That's just plain offensive." Not that that's what Wes Benedict necessarily said, however.

Read the offending passage after the jump...

Rick Perry's campaign has trotted out an unfunny anti-French radio ad attacking Chris Bell's voting record in Congress. OK, some of the audio is cute, like the "Mr. Way Too Liberal for Texas Guy" theme song, borrowed from a Bud Light commercial. But then comes the tired and predictable: "You voted to let the United Nations oversee elections in America, because no one stands up for Democracy like the French! So wear your fancy beret with pride, Congressman Bell. Liberals everywhere salute you." Oh, please. Is this the same Rick Perry who said, "words matter," when he tsk-tsked Kinky Friedman's ethnic jokes? If Perry is so bent on using stereotypes to attack Bell, seems like a Mexican sombrero would be more 2006-ish because, as the radio ad points out, Bell is soft as brie (our words) on immigration.

One man's worst World Series ever is easily among another man's Top 10 nights of his life.

I'll let LOOGY (Lefty One-Out Guy) Randy Flores sum it up: "We beat the team with the best pitching [San Diego Padres]. We beat the team with the best hitting [New York Mets]. And we beat the team with the best story [Detroit Tigers]," he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The St. Louis Cardinals are Major League Baseball's 2006 World Champions. I was there to see this become a reality – an unreal experience – and now I return to reality. I am very much looking forward to refocusing on a few other things in my life, like showing up for work and talking to people wearing colors other than red. I might also quit drinking.

I know better than to get my hopes up. I've seen Democrats snatch defeat from the jaws of victory before. But let's face it, the handwriting on the wall does indeed seem to favor the donkeys this time around. Exhibit A: Look at the current polling on Majority Watch. Of the 54 House districts that RT Strategies/Constituent Dynamics is polling, 26 of them are projected to flip from one party to the other (27, if you count the Vermont seat that Independent Bernie Sanders is giving up, although he was functionally a Democrat). Of those 26, not one of them is projected to flip D to R. They're all predicted to go from Republican to Democrat. And that's not even counting Tom DeLay's former seat in TX-22, which seems certain to flip to Democrat Nick Lampson (EDIT: Or maybe not – see my new post on this race in the "Key Texas Races" section). Now of course, several of those races are within the margin of error, so a few could stay in Republican hands. But since the Dems need 16 to take back the House, that's a pretty healthy bit of breathing room. On top of that, there are five seats that are considered dead heats at the moment – and all five are currently in Republican hands. So put another way: Of the 202 currently Democratic seats, not one is under threat. The question is not whether the Democrats will gain, it's just whether they will gain enough. Any Yella Dog has to like those odds.

Week 8, Halloween week, brings some truly scary matchups. Taylor Field in Seguin, where No. 8 Westlake tries to hold off the charging Seguin Matadors and monstrous linebacker Marcus Richardson, last week's TexasFootball.com's Player of the Week for his frighteningly complete performance (16 tackles, one sack, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery) in Seguin's 28-20 win over Austin High? A Seguin win basically hands them the 25-5A title. Or perhaps House Park, a house of horrors tonight for either Elgin or McCallum, who come in with identical 6-1, 5-0 records, tied for the top spot in 17-4A? Up north, Cedar Park, one of two remaining unbeatens in Central Texas, tangles with 14-5A surprise Westwood (6-1, 3-1) at Round Rock ISD Stadium, and minus RB Taylor Smith to boot.