"Demographics is destiny" is a mantra amongst electioneers and campaign professionals. With the withdrawal this morning of Mikal Watts from the Democratic primary for the US Senate, that leaves the real election fight next November looking like incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, vs State Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston. For campaign watchers, this is Old Texas versus New Texas, that demographic tipping point they've been waiting for in election politics.

Of course, campaign staff always used to say that money equaled votes, and cash was the selling point for the previously unelected Watts. By late September, he reportedly had an $8.3 million war chest, but since he'd loaned his own campaign $7.5 million of his own cash, that sum doesn't sound so great.

While some observers had been boosting the Watts campaign as fresh blood in the race, the political novice looked more like fresh meat. Politicos with slightly longer memories also saw the shadow of Tony Sanchez on him. The Democratic 2002 gubernatorial candidate came in on a wave of cash and good will, and then took an 18-point drubbing from Rick Perry.

The thinking back then among campaign managers was that, with a rising Hispanic vote, a Hispanic candidate could take down Perry. Now those same politicos are looking to Noriega to take down Cornyn. Yet the glib "demographics is destiny" line could just be an excuse. The five-term state rep and career military man comes to the campaign with endorsements from ranking state and national Democrats and, importantly, more individual donors than Watts ever managed. It's these traditional campaign assets that could make him the biggest threat to Cornyn.

Paz Dhody, the new owner of the former Travis County Farmers Market, sent a letter to the Chronicle yesterday apologizing for the uproar caused by the departure of Brentwood Tavern from the market, and says he hopes the beloved neighborhood restaurant will reconsider its decision and sign a new lease. Currently, the restaurant plans to close its doors on Oct. 25.

(UPDATE: Brentwood Tavern owner Kathleen Macek has nixed the offer, telling Austin Chronicle Food Editor Virginia Wood: "It's too little too late – we've already sold half our equipment, found jobs for all of our employees, and booked tickets for a vacation in Thailand.")

Click on the link below to read a slightly edited version of Dhody's letter:

San Antonio trial lawyer Mikal Watts has withdrawn his exploratory candidacy for the U.S. Senate race, meaning that Houston state Rep. Rick Noriega will likely be unopposed in his bid for the Democratic nomination and will face incumbent Sen. John Cornyn next fall. Click on the link to read Watts' statement:

Katie bar the door! Here come the voters!

Boy, there's nothing like a sexy constitutional amendment election to flood those voting booths. Yes, I'm being snarky. The first day of early voting brought 881 citizens to the polls, out of 536,317 registered voters. Throw in another 91 mail-in ballots, and that's a whopping 0.17%. We hope you'll excuse us if we don't blog day-by-day totals for this particular election. We'll probably update you in about a week.

But in case you're curious as to where the hotbeds of amending (or nonamending) fervor are: the highest turnout was at the Randalls at Research and Braker (102); the lowest was at the Parque Zaragoza Rec Center (a measly three).

If their child has been abused by the very people meant to protect them, a lot of parents would want the issue to go away. But Genger Galloway, mother of former Texas Youth Commission inmate Joseph, has now been named as the recipient of this year’s Henry B. Gonzalez Human Rights Award. Given by the Texas Civil Rights Project, it recognizes community-level human rights workers in Texas, and this time recognizes Galloway for her whistle-blowing role in uncovering the Texas Youth Commission abuse scandal.

Between 2003 and being released in 2007, Joseph Galloway was kept in several TYC facilities, and has alleged being repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted by staff and inmates. Since he became one of the first TYC inmates released after the scandal broke, Galloway’s family have become the center of a federal class-action suit against 28 defendants, and his mother has talked on the issue to legislators, the Prison Rape Elimination Act Commission and even the CBS evening news. Indeed, it was her hard work that gave the issue some of its worryingly Spartan coverage on the national stage.

Galloway will receive the award at the TCRP 17th Annual Bill of Rights Dinner on Nov. 3rd.

Scenic Texas has launched a letter-writing campaign against the introduction of electronic billboards to Texas, the idea of which is going through the Texas Department of Transportation’s rule-making process. The group, whose members are generally opposed to all billboards, considers the extraterritorial jurisdictions of counties – which have no regulatory authority over billboard displays – to be most at risk for this high-intensity advertising. TxDOT rules will limit direction, timing, and display intensity. Comments are being accepted through Dec. 6.

For more information, visit the campaign website or visit Scenic Texas for more information.

Attorney General Greg Abbott sent out a warning today to beware a phone scam where people posing as court officers steal your identity. Press release follows:

Former CIA chief-turned-Texas A&M University president-turned-defense secretary Robert Gates was busy making friends and influencing people this morning, attacking NATO for not providing enough troops in Afghanistan.

This kind of ignores the International Security Assistance Force, the NATO-backed force in the area. Consisting of 25 US NATO allies and 11 non-NATO states, it has increased its personnel on the ground from 32,000 in late 2006 to 35,500 in the middle of this year. The UK, which has taken flack for its decision to withdraw combat forces from Iraq, is doing so in order that it (guess what?) can boost its deployment in Afghanistan. The 2,500 Canadian troops around Kandahar have been taking particularly heavy casualties. Meanwhile, NATO has always seen a major part of its job in the Fight on Terror (they don't call it a war) as backfill: using member states to plug the gaps in NATO commitments for states with troops tied up in Afghanistan and Iraq.

As of this morning, Council Member Jennifer Kim has withdrawn her controversial Solicitation Ban, aka the Panhandling Amendment. Noting that it was "perceived as going too far, limiting free speech and was unnecessarily punitive," she said her original intent was to cut down on panhandling near schools and limit fatalities at intersections. But passage has seemed near-impossible: originally scheduled to be heard by council in early September, a vote kept being pushed back, and now Kim seems to have accepted the inevitable.

This does not mean it's off the table completely. Quoting the 211 citations for panhandling near schools so far this year, she said she still hopes to introduce a "fair, comprehensive approach" to the problem, including working closer with the Project Recovery and Reentry Roundtable, which aims to get the homeless and jobless back into work and housing. She also talked about "more effective" (i.e. tougher) enforcement of the existing laws.