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-This from Jocahontas, daughter of Chief Charly Hoarse..

Oh goodness, Sarah Palin just doesn't quit. Shoot, that falls right into something Elena White said yesterday: Perry's campaign is trying to make this race about Washington, while Bill White is making it about Texas.

I was very impressed with Miss Elena. It was thrilling to meet someone so young and so informed. She explained the work that she had been doing for the campaign such as speaking at conventions, schools and campuses across the state, and also block-walking and phone-banking just like you and I did.

Elena talked about education a great deal, because education has only been getting worse in Texas since Perry took office. Texas currently has the most Fortune 500 companies located here out of the states, but if we cannot produce intelligent young people to join the workforce, then these companies aren't going to stay. Bill White wants to improve education at every level, starting with making pre-school more available and allowing grade-school teachers to teach real skills and not just standardized tests. I learned about project "Expectation Graduation" that Bill White and his wife began in Houston to encourage teenagers to complete high school, and he will continue work like that for the whole state. He wants to make college more affordable too, because, once again, we need educated Texans going out into the workforce. There is no reason that it should be cheaper for Texans to go to college out-of-state than in-state, yet this is often the case. He wants to make textbooks cheaper, because, again, there is absolutely no reason that a new edition of a calculus book should be required every year, nor that the books can't be available online at discounted prices. It was really motivating to hear Elena tell us about topics like this, because it's what is affecting us right now. We are the Texans that are paying tuition and buying textbooks at ridiculous prices, so being armed with Bill White's ideas to make college more affordable is very useful when I'm talking to people on campus.

Like I said, I was very impressed with Miss Elena. She is bright and quick, and has a sense of humor too. She assured us that she has seen her dad speak at a podium in front of cameras and thousands of people, and she has seen him speak at home at the dinner table too, and he's the same man. I was thrilled to meet his daughter, introduce myself and shake her hand. It was a great experience and so great to have it right on my campus.

I love you dad, thanks for thinking of me. You know, I would have a lot of great things to say about you too if you let me go around the state to promote you.

-And this to my neighbor, who gave me a screed about Bill White from Bonzer Wolf, a retired Feeb and Randroid..

Well, I've been looking at that sheet you printed for me. I found a couple of his points to be half-true. A couple more are irrelevant to this race or this state, and the rest are just plain wrong. Whether the writer is misinformed, or is being disingenuous or dishonest I can’t say. It’s too bad that the Governor won’t debate his opponent or even talk to reporters; a more open discourse might clear the air.

Have to say first that this is an example of the "wedge issue politics" I was decrying this morning. I liked White’s work as mayor because he didn't get caught up in party politics and hot-button issues, but instead found consensus among the fractious city council to address the business of the city. I believe that we have more pressing problems in this state than "God, guns, and gays."

Remember that you said that you prefer engineering issues to politics, more cut and dried, less dicey. Consider that an engineer does measurements and calculations to make a project fit the problem; I think that political science requires some yardsticks too. I try to find them by studying history and following current events. By these measures, I find our current governor sorely lacking.