Houston biggest US city to elect openly gay mayor(Why she won: Hint, it's not that she's gay)

mywa7y ^ | 12/13/09 | MONICA RHOR

[bestintxas]

Houston became the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor, with voters handing a solid victory to City Controller Annise Parker after a hotly contested runoff.

Parker defeated former city attorney Gene Locke with 53.6 percent of the vote Saturday in a race that had a turnout of only 16.5 percent.

[bestintxas]

The single biggest reason she won is her only opponent is black, a lawyer and is distinguished as a commmunity organizer.

Does this pedigree sound familiar to anyone?

The backlash is coming as a tsunami.

[Eagle Eye]

I thought it might be that she knew where the city’s money was being spent and ran a campaign on reform and cutting costs.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“her only opponent is black, a lawyer and is distinguished as a commmunity organizer. “

Strike 3 LOL!

[svcw]

I agree. I have family in Houston, they say she ran a good campaign.

[cbkaty]

Voter turnout....less than 150,000 in a city of approximately 3,000,000.....

Most voted none of the above......

Houston, the new 2nd City of San Francisco......

[bgill]

That and that only 16.5% bothered to vote.

[Sgt_Schultze]

If that's true, Republican candidates should all vow to cast their democrat opponent as a community organizer. At the very least, it will have the democrat party distancing themselves from the vile affiliation. At the best - victory.

[Overtaxed Patriot]

“her only opponent is black, a lawyer and is distinguished as a commmunity organizer. “

Lesbian hillary would beat barry in an election today.

[Little Ray]

So, is she a Gay Libertarian or Conservative?

[deport]

The single biggest reason she won is her only opponent is black, a lawyer and is distinguished as a commmunity organizer.

---

There were more candidates in the race originally and this was the run off. These two got something like 26-29% of the vote each in the first round.

The sad thing is that any candidate that had the backing of 10% of the registered almost 1,000,000 voters could have won this race easily.

[FrankR]

"The single biggest reason she won is her only opponent is black, a lawyer and is distinguished as a commmunity organizer. "

I don't think either of those attributes will be a big advantage at the polls anymore, thanks to the kenyan.

I would think touting that one is a "community organizer" would be the proverbial "kiss of death" for office seekers...just sayin'

[dblshot]

I think it's because Houston is in dire money straits and the voters picked a fiscal conservative over a connected city contractor. Metro and The Sports Authority are bleeding Houston dry. If I lived in the city I'd have voted for Annise Parker.

[dalebert]

dont be racist..its not because he was black..its because of the community organizer...

[Skywalk]

It’s a shame that some “conservatives” were less interested in, at least some, fiscal restraint than in trying to prevent a gay woman from becoming mayor. Better to let the corrupt and connected Democrat “community organizer” win than the lesser of two evils.

And the SoCons wonder why many of us don’t think they’re interested in our cause.

[Night Hides Not]

dont be racist..its not because he was black..its because of the community organizer...

The color Houstonian voters were focused on is green, not black or white.

I've lived in plenty of places in my 55 years. You won't find a more diverse or welcoming state than Texas.

[unixfox]

Houston, the new 2nd City of San Francisco......

Nope, that would be Austin.

THE most socialist/liberal city in Texas, bar none.

[Sans-Culotte]

I live just outside Houston, so I could not vote. Most republicans I know that voted in the run-off voted for Parker because she was perceived as being fiscally conservative. The race was touted as the runoff between the lesbian and the black guy.

Incidentally, Parker is not one of those Drew Carey-looking butch dykes. I assume she's the "wife" in her lesbian "marriage".

[Guenevere]

and yet...and yet....there is a remnant of righteous there...

..just as there are in your city, my city, all cities.

Don't be so quick to judge.

[achilles2000]

Houston was very nearly bankrupted by Lee Brown. Although I don’t live there, I think that Houston wasn’t buying the “elect a liberal black mayor so you can be a world-class city” line anymore. Brown, BTW was the candidate of the downtown business interests. Another indication of what geniuses Ken Lay and his friends were.

Parker is bad news, but slightly less bad than Locke.

[glide625]

Oh, come on......the truth is (I live in Houston) that Houston’s been a one party town for decades. The Party Elite decide long before an election who’s going to win; they give that information to the Chronicle who “endorses” the candidate, which for all practical purposes amounts to the “nomination” of the new Mayor and the election is held as a formality; it’s just a “confirmation” of the selected candidate. They know the early vote is largely Republican or other wise not Democrat; they count those votes and pony up a number of votes greater than that count for their candidate from their “machine”. That’s the real reason turn out is so low.......turnout doesn’t matter and what turnout does occur on the day of the election is selected and loaded up onto buses driven by the Acorn types.