Houston News Blog

Photo by Mike Giglio

​Things are very quiet at the vote-watch "parties" tonight, as the candidates and their supporters settle in for what's likely to be a long night of seeing who ends up being the odd person out.

This description, of the Annise Parker bash, is pretty much true of the others. Except for the music, possibly.

Parker has decided to do the evening in style, holding her party at the Hilton Americas on the Avenida de Americas and Lamar; fancy trees decked in lights a la South Beach outside, valet parking; classical music on endless loop in the lobby, which also features a waterfall.

But maybe they should have saved some money for the essentials, as there is no band (the music selection is currently on "Just a Little Bit"), a cash bar and -- gasp -- you even gotta pay for the food.

As far as turn out, there's not much to speak of yet; the media/bloggers seem to outnumber the other guests, who are spread out at bar tables drinking wine.

Forced to pay for the pigs-n-blankets? Is this the kind of leadership we want? Gene Locke's party is similarly waiting to get started, our man on the scene reports.

Latest returns, via the Houston Chronicle, shows Locke with 30 percent, Parker with 28.2 percent, and Peter Brown with 25.5 percent.

There may be something to the theory that Brown's heavy ad campaign succeeded in getting people to say they were supporting him when asked by pollsters, but getting them out to the polls was another matter.

But it's still early. And boring.

Electric update from Mike Giglio at the Parker party: "Correspondent Paul Knight just alerted me that there is free beer at the Brown HQ. This is BS. I think this needs to be noted in CAPS in all our election coverage: YOUR PARKER CORRESPONDENT IS MISERABLE, HOUSTON."