Election Headlines

• Mark your calendar – early voting begins Oct. 18 for the Nov. 2 election. If you missed Monday's deadline to register, you can earn your early bird wings by signing up to vote in the May city election.

• Look for a last-minute advertising blitz from Gov. Rick Perry in his race to stave off Democratic challenger Bill White. The 30-day campaign finance reports filed Monday show that Perry outraised White for the first time this election cycle. The incumbent now sits on a $10 million war chest, compared to White's $2.75 million. Coda: White has an ad blitz of his own to launch; he's already laid down an additional $4 million for TV advertising in October.

• A recent poll by Blum & Weprin Associates Inc. shows Perry beating White among likely women voters, 50% to 40%. This comes less than a month after Perry attended a men-only fundraising dinner in Houston to which "wives/significant others" were not invited.

• Back on finances: In Travis County's House District 47, Republican Paul Workman outraised incumbent Democrat Valinda Bolton, leaving his Texans for Workman PAC with $134,623 to spend in the next month. However, Bolton outspent him almost two-to-one in the last three months and still has $107,946 in the till.

• A similar scenario is playing out in HD 48, with GOPer Dan Neil's Texans for Dan Neil pulling in a little more cash than incumbent Democrat Donna Howard. But with $78,347 in her coffers, Howard still has three times her challenger's war chest, even after outspending him four-to-one.

• There are even fewer Dem cash worries in HD 50, where incumbent Rep. Mark Strama has left Republican challenger Patrick McGuinness in the dust; Strama has $158,598 in the bank compared to his challenger's $22,086.

• In the most economical House race in Travis, HD 51 Democratic Rep. Eddie Rodriguez is sitting on a modest $13,327, but that still dwarfs Republican Marilyn Jackson's tiny sum of $2,141.