As you head to the polls today, take this phone number with you: 866/OUR-VOTE. (866/687-8683)

That's the voter assistance hotline manned by the nonpartisan Election Protection Coalition, a project of the People for the American Way Foundation, the NAACP, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. If you are having trouble figuring out how or where to vote, or if you think you are being denied your right to vote, they promise to have trained volunteers providing immediate, state specific, assistance to callers.

You may have noticed a sudden upsurge in ads for Republican state House District 47 candidate Bill Welch over the weekend. That's because, as we've previously blogged, he received a last-minute infusion of almost $700,000 in the month leading up to Election Day, including almost half a million from "Voucher Sugar Daddy" (as the campaign of Democrat Valinda Bolton put it) James Leininger. To express their displeasure at Leininger's attempt to buy yet another election, Education Austin – the union for Austin teachers and school staff – held a press conference Friday at Kocurek Elementary, where Bolton said, "In my opponent's ads, he keeps saying that I'm opposed to merit pay for teachers. You're darn right I am; the high-stakes testing pressure is so much, and it's unfair to tie teachers' pay to it." Teachers unions have historically opposed what proponents call "merit pay" because, they say, it leads to in-school politics determining who gets raises.

The Bolton campaign offers up other ways to interpret Welch's words on its Web site with something it calls The Official Bill Welch Translator. It's one of the best examples of interactive (in the online sense) political campaigning we've seen this season.

I was needlessly afraid of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. As John Razook revealed in his blog, I was among the Longhorn faithful who weren’t all that faithful. Who can blame us? After all, my nickname of the Horns of recent vintage had been the Wifebeaters. (“We promise we won’t lose to Oklahoma again this year, honey …” BAM!) But it’s time to face the facts: the Horns see themselves as winners, and that’s half the battle. To be surprised at this victory is to believe the timing of Saddam Hussein’s death sentence right before elections is a coincidence.

It’s clear Texas will finish the regular season undefeated in the Big 12. I’m still not convinced they’re National Champ material minus Vince Young, but they believe, dammit, they believe. Lifelong Horns fans like yours truly need only look at one gaudy stat: 21 straight conference wins. That matches 21 straight Southwest Conference victories during the last glory days of the program from ’68 to ’71. Gulp. These guys are for real. Bring on that Nebraska rematch. An Ohio State do-over? Crazier things have happened, and the Horns, with ultra-confident Colt McCoy cocked and loaded, might just pull it off if given the chance.

This just in from Travis County Elections:

Election Poll Clerks and Election Night Workers Needed

Austin – Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir today put out a final call for Election Day polling place clerks and election night workers.

“The election process relies on the active participation of our citizenry,” DeBeauvoir said today. “Whether you’re an early bird or a night owl, we’ve got a job for you.”

This Sunday didn't count, right? Don't tell me they're actually going to record the results of those games, like for real.

If you accidentally turned off the Cowboys/Redskins game in the last few seconds, mistakenly thinking Mike Vanderjagt would make that chip-in field goal and would limp on to a marginally deserved victory, it's probably best if you stop reading this blog right now.
Just when you thought the Cowboys had managed to lose in every possible way, they've figured out how to throw a game away after the clock's run out. All that's left is for them to lose games they've already won or get beat by teams they haven't played, and they'll be an unstoppable draft-picking machine. Let's see the Raiders match my new projected Cowboys record of 0 and 53.

We almost missed this gem over the weekend, wherein Rick Perry accused Chris Bell of living in a "post-September 9th world."

Having flexed his quiz show acumen during last month's debate, we were prepared for Bell to elucidate upon the historical import of this grave day, but – wow. From a press release:

"As to the knowledge of the events of September 9th, Bell has a good grasp on the date's historical significance. Of course, September 9th was the birthday of famous Russian author Leo Tolstoy in 1828. No one could forget September 9th, 1973--the day that Terry Anne Meeuwsen of Wisconsin was crowned as the 45th Miss America." (Yet coincidentally, the release notes, "on September 9, 2003, Rick Perry proclaimed a special session in order to discuss redistricting. If we were not in a post-September 9th world, Chris Bell would still be in Congress.")

Well, if things don't work out Tuesday, we've got a plan for Mr. Bell.

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.