Have the voters of Virginia finally woken up and realized that they don't want a flaming racist for their senator? After weeks of polls showing George Allen (son of the famous Redskins coach; maybe the racism was ingrained in him by that team name) slightly ahead, now they're showing him slightly behind. An average of five polls on Electoral-Vote.com is showing Democrat Jim Webb ahead, 49%-47%. I presume one of those is a CNN poll yesterday showing Webb 50%, Allen 46%. Those numbers could be affected further by a video yesterday showing Allen supporters tackling a heckler and slamming him to the ground. I don't know how that will play with Virginians, but to my eyes it looked mighty thuggish, more befitting the third world or eastern Europe that a democracy.

It's anybody's guess which party will come out on top Tuesday, but it will hinge on five races in particular: Montana, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, and New Jersey. Also worth bearing in mind: As of this writing, Electoral-Vote.com is predicting a 50-50 split, but that site counts Bernie Sanders as a Democrat. Technically, he's an independent, but he always caucuses with the Dems.

Now this is some funny shit, from the Chris Bell campaign:

Background: in 1990, as co-chair of the Clayton Williams campaign, Carole Strayhorn staged an "Ann Watch" outside the State Treasury, wanting to make sure that Richards was putting in her time as State Treasurer. AWR (Ann Willis Richards) Women and Men for Bell will monitor the Comptroller's Office to make sure Strayhorn is now doing her job.

Good luck guys.

Times and location below the fold.

Travis County's early voting numbers continued rising this week, reaching new highs of 7,654 on Monday and 7,757 on Tuesday. The grand total now stands at 52,880 early voters, plus 4,418 mail-in ballots, for a total of 57,298, or 10.31% of the county's registered voters. If you have an office betting pool going (and if you do, oh my god you're a geek), I'm predicting a 45% total turnout in the end. Early voting ends Friday. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 7.

The precisely-monikered AustinContrarian raises an interesting point today regarding Prop 5, the affordable housing bond. Our author thinks they will do some good for the city's oft-overlooked (umm, more like invisible) renters, but additionally, "will give the City Council the cover it needs to do the right thing on housing... Proposition 5 will allow Council members to say they support both dense redevelopment and affordable housing. It will be easier for them to approve infill projects without being accused of hurting the low-income."

I'm not sold on the Contrarian's insistence that the only way to keep prices affordable is by tearing down admittedly "cheap housing" to make room for bigger infill projects that will supposedly drive prices down by keeping up with demand (demand I just don't see– I'd like to see condo occupancy rates downtown in a few years, once everything is built). However, this nugget about the Austin Neighborhoods Council bears repeating:

You can count on the neighborhood groups, who hijack the affordability cause whenever it suits their purpose, to keep affordability front and center. (To my knowledge, ANC has not endorsed Proposition 5, which is significant considering its public handwringing over affordable housing.)

Good question. Any answers, ANC?

This article about the League of Conservation Voters was previously published in our paper version of the paper, but it bears repeating here as you head for the voting booth. If environmental issues are key in helping you make picks for Congress and Senate, the LCV scorecard is mighty illuminating.:

Enviros Say Doggett Shines, Others ... Stink
Just in time for the November elections, the League of Conservation Voters has issued its voting scorecard for the second session of the 109th Congress (that is, the 2006 session). Unfortunately for environment-minded Texans, it is depressingly similar to previous scorecards.

From Austin Chronicle cartoonist Doug Potter

You've probably seen the ads by 3rd Court of Appeals Place 5 Democratic candidate Mina Brees invoking the name of her famous son, NFL quarterback Drew Brees. Well, you won't be seeing them any longer. KXAN-TV is reporting that son and mother are estranged, and Drew has asked Mina to pull his name from the ads. Brees is challenging Republican incumbent David Puryear.

Congratulations to the Rick Perry campaign for managing to call the kettle black in a creative, humorous, and vaguely sexist fashion. Just in time for Halloween, the camp rolled out an interactive Web tour of Grandma's Attic, a lively exploration of Carole Keeton Strayhorn's "secret" records stashed away in the bowels of the state comptroller's office.

The Attic clip got us thinking about all the fun we could have with Perry’s skeletons, too. Oh, if only we had big lobby money to burn on such a venture! If we did, here’s a rough cut of what we’d find in... (cue pipe organ) Perry’s Pantry!

Interactive imagination required below the fold...

Seven days of early voting are behind us, and now my early predictions of nearly 50% turnout are looking a little rosy. Thus far, 37,427 Travis County citizens have voted early, including a high of 6,852 on Friday (people shopping for their weekend party snacks?). Another 3,735 ballots have been received by mail, for a total of 41,207, or 7.42% of Travis' registered voters. At this pace, I'd estimate final turnout will be in the 35-40% range. Highest turnout has been at the Randalls grocery at 10900 Research, 4,012 voters; lowest has been, sadly but predictably, in the poorer Eastside neighborhoods that need representation the most.

Early voting is easy, so there's no excuse if you are registered: You may cast your ballot at any early voting location.