Here are the latest numbers as of Monday morning, freely stolen from some of my favorite sources: electoral-vote.com, Majority Watch, the Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle. What to expect: Dems will easily take the House, it's anybody's guess in the U.S. Senate, Perry will still be our governor and Hutchison will still be our senator.

But please, folks, don't let any of these numbers discourage you from voting. Remember, there is only one poll that matters, and that's the one being conducted tomorrow in your local precinct. Remember, Dewey did not beat Truman.

The UT Lady Longhorns won their first-ever Big 12 Conference tournament championship on Sunday afternoon in about as dramatic a fashion as possible, getting back-to-back game-saving plays from first Caitlyn Kennedy and then Dianna Pfenninger to beat Colorado 5-4 in a penalty kick shootout. Down 4-3 with just one kick to go for each team, the Horns needed a goal by Kennedy, and then a save by Pfenninger, to stay alive. They got both. And minutes later, they had the championship, after junior transfer Greta Carter hit for UT, and the Buffs' last kicker pushed the ball wide left.

That should be plenty to earn the Horns an NCAA subregional host bid; see you at Myers Stadium next Friday and Sunday?

On Friday, a surge of 18,884 Travis County residents made their way to the polls to vote, the highest total of the early voting period, bringing the early voting grand total to 93,100. Add in the 5,560 mail-in ballots county officials have received, and that makes 98,660 who have cast their vote before Election Day, or 17.76% of Travis' 555,579 registered voters. Using the conventional wisdom that Election Day numbers are usually double those of early voting, a 50% turnout is not an unreasonable expectation, good numbers for a nonpresidential year.

Remember, Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 7. Polls will be open 7am-7pm. Voters must vote in their neighborhood precinct. Do you know your precinct number? It's on your voter registration card. If you've lost your card, look up your registration info here: http://www.traviscountytax.org/showVoterNameSearch.do or call the county tax assesor at 854-9473. Then, locate your precinct location here: http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/20061107/polls.asp. You must take some form of ID that includes your address, although it does not have to be a photo ID. Registered voters can vote with a voter registration card; driver’s license or any official photo ID; birth certificate; United States citizenship papers or passport; or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, or other official document that shows the name and address of the voter.

[EDIT: Mary Beth Harrell's campaign says it has been notified that KNCT has reversed the decision detailed below, and will air the episode of NOW on Monday evening at 8pm. Also, the complete episode may be viewed anytime on NOW's Web site.]

KNCT, Killeen's PBS station, did a tremendous disservice to its Fort Hood-area viewership on Friday by refusing to show the NOW national political news program that focused on the Congressional District 31 race. The program did an excellent job profiling the two leading candidates, Republican incumbent John Carter and Democratic challenger Mary Beth Harrell, and how their views of the Iraq war are affecting their campaigns in this military-heavy district. Given that Carter has refused to debate Harrell even once during this campaign, it would have been a fine opportunity for District 31 residents to get educated on the race (funny – I always thought education was a core mission of public television). "[T]he Local PBS affiliate deliberately deprived the local community it serves the right to view the program," said Harrell's campaign in a press release.

The D-League held its annual draft this past Thursday, and the Austin Toros made Darius Washington their No. 1 pick and the 10th pick overall. Washington, a six-foot-two-inch point guard from Winter Park, Fla., played his college ball at the University of Memphis, where he averaged 14.4 points and 3.5 assists a night. He earned First Team All Conference USA honors his sophomore year and was a finalist for the Bob (“The Cooz”) Cousy Award, which recognizes either the best point guard in the country or the player with the lousiest nickname. Coach Dennis Johnson says that Washington will play a vital role as a playmaker for the Toros, something he says the team was lacking last season, and calls the 20 year-old a “pass-first guy” and a “leader on the court.”

Here are the Toros’ other nine draft picks:

B.J. Elder (Georgia Tech)
Brock Gillespie (Rice)
Walt Walters (Cleveland State)
Justin Bowen (Illinois-Chicago)
Rod Benson (California)
Tedric Hall (Gulf Coast Community College – Florida)
Dustin Brown (Loyola Marymount)
Ty Thomas (Concordia – Minn.)
Melvin Scott (North Carolina)

These 10, along with the final winners of the open tryout, two allocated players, and four returning Toros, will head to training camp next week to fight for a spot on the team’s final 10-man roster. Those who don’t make it will go back into the D-League players pool and await their next chance at glory.

When I walked into the Delco Activity Center for the second day of the Austin Toros open tryouts, I made two quick observations: one, the tension and competitiveness among the players had been ratcheted up from the previous day to almost unbearable levels; and two, I had no business being awake at 9 o’clock in the morning. Normally 9 o’clock would mark the halfway point of my nightly dance with the sandman, but no one ever said the life of a sports blogger was a warm slice of chocolate cake, and I’m willing to make sacrifices, so I beat back my lingering exhaustion to put pen to paper and bring you my observations from the final day.

I just watched the coverage of the Texas Congressional District 31 race on PBS's NOW, and it was quite impressive. A great example of how journalism with a viewpoint (make no mistake – any program founded by Bill Moyers is gonna be liberal) can still be evenhanded and not manipulative (see my complaints about HBO's Hacking Democracy).

"We're talking not so much about an election anymore, we're talking about an intervention. We're talking about getting these people to recognize reality." – Conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan, on PBS's NOW, about why he'll be voting Democrat on Tuesday

The federal court preliminary injunction barring Greg Abbott from prosecuting individuals found in possession of the mail-in ballot of another, but with the consent of that voter, has been lifted. The case was brought by the Democratic Party and other Texans, arguing that the law was overbroad and that Abbott was overzealously prosecuting people who were simply taking ballots to the post office for the elderly. Abbott contends he is cracking down on voter fraud by strictly enforcing the 2003 law.