We’ve been hearing a lot about the vendor who sold controversial buttons at the Republican State Convention…buttons that asked if the White House would still be called the White House if Obama becomes president. So, I gave the button maker, Jonathan Alcox, a call. It turns out he makes buttons, stickers, etc for both parties and in his estimation, with equally messages. Alcox says he meant nothing racist with his button and had gotten the idea from a cartoon in a newspaper.

“I only made 12 buttons to test them out,” he said. “And, I only sold four. Two were sold to journalists who were looking for a controversial story to bring out of the convention.”

Alcox says he’s sure paying the price for the 8 bucks he made on the buttons. The Texas Republican Party has banned him from all future conventions and they have banned him from the national convention.

“Those conventions are essentially my livelihood,” said Alcox. “I don’t understand why they are making such a big fuss over these buttons when I sold equally offensive buttons at the Democratic convention and nobody said a word. In fact, they sold out almost immediately.”

I never thought the road from San Angelo to Austin would become weathered from my tires, but I’m afraid to report it is. I knew this morning I had been in San Angelo too long when the lady at the starbucks knew me by name, the grandpa with his grandkid remembered me and when I walked out, I said hi to the newspaper man’s son. That ended up being the most exciting adventure of the day.

The rest of the day consisted of another several hours of hearings with very little accomplished.

However, an interesting incident did happen at Friday’s hearing. While Dan Jessop was at the 14 day hearing for his son who was born in Austin 2 weeks ago, CPS brought out pictures of Warren Jeffs with two of his child brides. They submitted these pics as evidence that Dan’s home is not a safe environment, since his sister was one of the brides. The pictures showed this 14 year old girl standing with Jeffs and in another picture she was kissing him. What shocked me the most from this is immediately following the hearing, court workers came out with copies of the pictures and knocked on all of our live trucks to deliver them. They GAVE us pics of an underage girl, in CPS custody for our news reports. The lady even told me to show the pic on Nancy Grace when I was on again. Considering we are not allowed to show pictures of children in CPS custody, I was a little surprised to be handed photos of a girl the state is alleging to be a victim of child sex abuse.

I thought it was a little strange, you?

So, Obama is already starting to concentrate on the states that will play an important role in November, but is he declaring victory too early? We’re certainly not seeing Hillary waving any flags of concession and if some speculators are right, she may get Florida and Michigan counted after all. If that happens, will there be an upset? It depends on which conspiracy theorist you speak with.

I just got a letter from Cornyn’s campaign about a May 18th walk intended to help raise money for Republicans. He sent a letter to former Secretary of State and now Texas Republican Victory 2008 chair, Roger Williams. Apparently, Cornyn is now offering his loyal followers a little incentive to do some campaigning for him.

Read the letter below:

Roger, Thank you so much for taking the initiative to organize a statewide walk on May 17th. As I have told you before, if Republicans work hard and work together over the next 6 months, we will be celebrating victories up and down the ballot in November. Your effort to start working early on a true neighbor to neighbor campaign is vital to combat an energized Democratic base. As you continue to organize walkers, please let people know that anyone who knocks on 60 doors will be entered into a raffle. I will give $250 to 5 different people who walk at least 60 doors for Victory (if they knock on a 120 doors, they can enter their name twice).

Thanks for all you do, I need a first rate Victory operation to win and I have no doubt that is what you are building.

See you on the trail.

John

That’s right, folks. Its time to get out there and choose your city council candidates. This should be an interesting day, especially for place 3. Any bets on who will take home the gold?

And, just so there is no excuse–here is a list of the places where you can vote.
Precinct #, Name of Location, Physical Address

151    Winn Elementary School      3500 Susquehanna Lane Austin
152    Maplewood Elementary School     3808 Maplewood Avenue Austin
153    Woodcliff Baptist Church     11015 Dessau Road Austin
154    Bluebonnet Trail Elementary School     11316 Farmhaven Road Austin
156    Virginia Brown Recreation Center    7500 Blessing Avenue Austin
160    YMCA North Park Branch      9616 North Lamar Boulevard Austin
161    Lanier High School     1201 Payton Gin Road Austin
163    Cook Elementary School     1511 Cripple Creek Road Austin
164    Barrington Elementary School      400 Cooper Drive Austin
203    Combined @ 206 TCESD#2 Education Bldg.      201-B East Pecan Street Pflugerville
205    Camden Huntingdon Apartments     12349 Metric Boulevard Austin
207    YMCA Northwest Branch     5807 McNeil Road Austin
208    Triumphant Love Lutheran Church     9508 Great Hills Trail Austin
210    O. Henry Middle School     2610 West 10th Street Austin
211    Walnut Creek Elementary School     401 West Braker Lane Austin
213    Graham Elementary School     11211 Tom Adams Drive Austin
214    Bryker Woods Elementary School     3309 Kerbey Lane Austin
215    Wells Branch Community Center      2106 Klattenhoff Drive Austin
216    Combined @ 215 Wells Branch Community Center     2106 Klattenhoff Drive Austin
218    ACC Northridge Campus     11928 Stonehollow Drive Austin
220    Fire Station # 31     5507 FM 2222 Austin
224    Timmerman Elementary School     700 West Pecan Street Pflugerville
225    Combined @ 217 Wells Branch MUD Rec. Center      3000 Shoreline Drive Austin
227    Spring Hill Elementary School     600 South Heatherwilde Boulevard Pflugerville
228    Pure Austin Fitness - NEW     4210 West Braker Lane Austin
231    Combined @ 271 Doss Elementary School     7005 Northledge Drive Austin
235    McCallum High School     5600 Sunshine Drive Austin
236    Rosedale Elementary School     2117 West 49th Street Austin
237    Highland Park Baptist Church     5206 Balcones Drive Austin
238    Murchison Middle School      3700 North Hills Drive Austin
239    Gullett Elementary School     6310 Treadwell Boulevard Austin
240    Highland Park Elementary School 4900 Fairview Drive Austin
241    Brentwood Elementary School 6700 Arroyo Seco Austin

CNN has projected Obama the winner…. it looks like this race is far from over…

The Democratic National Party is now trying to wage a campaign against McCain since it seems their candidates are too busy waging war on each other.

According to Rasmussen, Cornyn is vulnerable in the upcoming November election..check out what he wrote on his site:

Election 2008: Texas Senate

Texas Senate: Cornyn 47% Noriega 43%

It’s time to add United States Senator John Cornyn to the list of potentially vulnerable Republican incumbents in Election 2008. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state find Cornyn leading Democratic state legislator Rick Noriega by just four percentage points, 47% to 43%.

Any incumbent who polls below 50% is considered potentially vulnerable. That is especially true when a little known challenger is so competitive in an early general election match-up. The race for President in Texas is also fairly competitive early in Election 2008.

Noreiga leads among voters earning less than $40,000 a year. Cornyn leads among those with higher incomes. Cornyn leads among Evangelical Christian voters and other Protestants. Noreiga leads among those with a different faith background. Both candidates do well within their own party and are fairly evenly matched among unaffiliated voters.

Arriana Huffington of the Huffington Post  remarks on  the newly forged alliances that come out of  politicians desperate to succeed.  Under this picture the headline reads “I didn’t Vote for  George Bush!” Apparently, this is a direct quote spoken by none other  than John McCain—who seems to have befriended the prez on his way to the White House.

While I’m not actively covering the City Council elections, my station certainly is. And, if you’re still undecided, fret not. KXAN, Austin News will host a debate with our Robert Hadlock as the moderator on Wednesday, May 7th.

It will be live on our t.v. station and internet from 12:30-1pm on Wednesday with the candidates for place 4. We will have

From 1-2pm it will be live only on www.kxan.com with the candidates for place 3 and place 1.

I’ve been meaning to update my blog about the experiences we’re having here in San Angelo and Eldorado. However, the beast has been hungry and I’ve been on every local news show my station airs… so its safe to say I’m operating on adrenaline and not food, water or sleep.

At the moment, I’m watching my live report on Larry King Live tonight. I’m amazed we somehow squeezed that in, but who’s going to say no to Larry? In all honesty, this has been a crazy experience and one that doesn’t seem like its going to end anytime soon. The hearing in this custody battle just started today and the 300 plus lawyers here have yet to cross examine the CPS supervisor who is the basis of the state’s evidence.

Let’s start with our return to Eldorado yesterday. When my photographer, Thomas Costley and I arrived in Eldorado, we immediately went to the Yearning for Zion ranch where we found dozens of news crews outside the gate, hoping to get in. I’ll admit I had to pull a fast one and convince the church member at the gate that I was “on the list” to get in. We finally did and found a guard tower greeting us as soon as we entered.

***By the way, by pulling a fast one, I don’t mean I lied to anyone. I just convinced the guy at the gate and his supervisor that if they wanted exposure, rejecting local news crews wasn’t going to accomplish that goal. He ended up letting all of the crews outside take a tour of the ranch.

After arriving, a man drove us through the compound to the “central area” where we were allowed to interview some of the women. They cried and said their lives were empty without the children.

The ranch itself is a lot of dusty, dry Texas land. There are some log cabin like homes, a huge temple and machinery. After leaving the ranch, we went to San Angelo, did our live hit at 10pm and then returned to the same spot a few hours later to deliver news for the morning show.

Today’s hearing was mass chaos. The one thing I noticed is there were a few young men with the women but hardly any older men. We keep hearing about young girls marrying fifty something year old men, but I have yet to see any. Perhaps that is intentional.

We have not eaten yet today, so after an 18 hour work day, we’re going to get lost in San Angelo in search of food.

Keep reading and I’ll keep writing…I’m sure it will only get crazier!