Parker 47, Locke 34: The Real Story Behind the Numbers

Anyone can ask Council Member Peter Brown, who has endorsed Annise Parker for Mayor of Houston, what he thinks of poll numbers. They can be deceiving!

Days before the election would turn sour for Brown … the Houston Chronicle reported that a Zogby poll had Brown in the lead. We all know how that turned out and well the rest is history.

I have to give Lake Research Partners credit though … they were correct in predicting the last time around that Parker was in the lead with 27 percent … she ended up with 30 percent.

LRP was off on the second place candidate by aaalllooottt! Brown was to head to a run off with 21 percent and Locke was in third with 17 percent. Election night actually gave Locke 26 percent while Brown stumbled into third with 22 percent.

In retrospect, they were able to correctly predict that Brown would garner 22 percent of the vote. They just did not correctly figure out what Locke’s end total would be.

So, what do the current poll numbers say … Parker is leading against Locke 47 to 34 percent with about 20 percent who are undecided. The lesson to be learned by everyone and anyone whether they are on the Parker or Gene Locke side … the only poll that matters is the one that is counted on December 12.

The campaigns know that it “ain’t over til the fat lady sings” and they are both courting anything that breathes. Hispanics were the Voter du jour last week when Locke and Parker held two competing events in the East End. The Locke campaign has now assigned Jose Soto to send updates of Locke's "efforts in the Latino community."

This week, Republicans became the voting bloc that will get attention from Parker and Locke. Republicans haven’t gotten this much action since their high school prom … and they know that they can dictate who goes to City Hall in January … even if they have to pick between two Liberals.