“Murray added, ‘O’Rourke has to do one of two things: something that changes the perceptions of the existing electorate, to move things; or something to change the complexion of the electorate — meaning he has to get people to the ballot box who might not otherwise go there.’”
“’Traditional political folks will criticize him by saying that nobody knows where he stands,’ says Texas political consultant Keir Murray. ‘But for a true outsider candidate, it’s actually advantageous. It’s a blank canvas to paint a candidacy and it’s harder to be defined out of the gate…'”
“If this can be resolved, I think you will see that issue not be as prevalent as it is now, and we’ll get back to, you know, infrastructure, public safety, sort of the basics of city government,” Murray said.
Houston Mayor Annise Parker officially kicks off her campaign for re-election this weekend. The mayoral campaign could be an aggressive one.
This is Mayor Parker’s final chance to serve another term in City Hall.
She’s challenged by former City Attorney Ben Hall, who officially launched his campaign in March.
Keir Murray is a political and public relations consultant who has worked on many Houston campaigns. He says Houstonians can expect the gloves to come off in this race.
“I think it’ll be fairly aggressive. For one thing, if you’re a challenger in Mr. Hall, first thing you’ve got to do is make the case to the public why the incumbent needs to be replaced. On the flip side I think, if I’m Mayor Parker and I’m looking to define him and his candidacy early on before he has a chance to do that himself.”
Murray says in a few small ways, the race is already negative. There’s a parody twitter account mocking Hall’s campaign, and someone on Parker’s campaign tipped reporters to a story about Hall’s delinquent payments on property taxes.
“This indicates to me fairly early on that they are planning to aggressively define him in a negative way before his campaign really gets off the ground.”
As for Hall, he’s likely to draw attention to the condition of city streets, flooding problems and similar infrastructure issues that might concern Houston voters.
http://app1.kuhf.org/articles/1368116284-What-You-Can-Expect-From-The-Houston-Mayoral-Race.html
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=8831888&pid=8832011