State Ticker: Davis, Abbott, and Spicybrown

• In the latest Texas Tribune/UT-Austin poll, Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott leads Dem competitor state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, by double-digits. Abbott carries a 16-point lead over Davis, who drew support from 38% of likely voters. Libertarian candidate Kathie Glass wrangled 6%; Green Party candidate Brandon Parmer received 2%. Abbott's lead was far narrower among female voters: 48% to Davis' 46%. Among Hispanic and black voters, Davis is in the lead: 48-46% and 75-19%, respectively. The Davis camp – not too pleased with the results – compelled voters to ask the handful of failed candidates whom the Trib wrongly projected to win in pre-primary polls (that is, Dewhurst, Medina, Branch, Rogers) for their opinions of the latest numbers. Snap.

• Things are getting spicy: U.S. Senate Green Party candidate, Emily "Spicybrown" Sanchez has filed an "emergency complaint" with the Federal Communication Commission's Media Bureau charging Univision Dallas KUVN-DT violated the "Equal Time Rule" by excluding her and Libertarian candidate Rebecca Paddock in a debate scheduled today, Friday, October 24. "This isn't an episode of Mad Men and it's not the Fifties,” said Sanchez. “Television stations shouldn't be allowing male candidates to debate and forcing the female and Latina candidates stay home and watch on TV. It’s discriminatory and it’s unacceptable.” We wonder what SECEDE Kilgore has to say about this.…

• Leticia Van de Putte, also down in the Tribune poll (35% to Dan Patrick's 52%), is working to get out the vote with her Vote Leticia tour. The tour makes a stop in Austin today at 5:30pm at the Texas Democratic Party Headquarters.

• The (Early) Results Are Trickling In: During the first three days of early voting, some 36,914 Travis County residents, 5.64% of registered in-person and mail voters, have already cast their ballots, according to Texas Secretary of State data. Statewide, more voters headed to the polls so far this gubernatorial election cycle than in 2010 – 485,836 of registered in-person and mail voters or 5.41% fulfilled their civic duty, while 435,077, or 5.22%, did so this time last election. While Travis County also saw a small increase, drawing more than 1,000 voters than it did four years ago, the percentage of registered voters who cast a ballot dipped slightly. Reminder: Early voting ends Oct 31.