Thursday, April 15, 2010

District 8: The Never-ending Story

D8 has always attracted its share of characters. Maybe it’s the low voter turnout that allows anyone with a passable campaign to get elected. Maybe it’s the opportunity for graft because of the low levels of oversight. Maybe it’s the elusive change to build a machine.

Maybe there is something in the water. Whatever the reasons are here’s the roundup.

Huseo
Ben’s brother Felipe is campaigning on his family name. I say this because it is so prominent on his signs. Felipe is rough where Ben is smooth. He’s more personable than Ben and it’s convenient that they can share consultants and staff. It’s only a matter of whether Felipe can survive the Inzunza attack machine.

Inzunza
The family is out for blood. As they see it, Ben disrupted the establishment of a landed political dynasty. Now, creating an aristocracy in a democracy isn’t easy to pull off. Things happen (strippergate). As both the Inzunzas and Huesos know, real estate only gets you so far. At some point, you’ve got to pull the trigger. Nick’s doorhangers are nice and glossy although you can easily surmise that he never went to Vietnam. What will be fun to watch will be the piles of mail that will come flooding into mailboxes in the 8th. If the Inzunzas learned anything from Remer, it’s that over-saturation of mail won’t hurt your case, only your treasury.

Alvarez

As the family feud explodes onto the streets, only Alvarez has the room to capitalize on the bloodshed. He has made it into the ring and just needs to avoid direct hits by the other two and he could make the runoff. He’s scrappy and that may put him into the final.

Howard
Initially, I was ready to dismiss B.D. but he has been working the ground like nobody’s business. Granted, when you lack the funds you do what you can. He has gone places other candidates have avoided and, although he may not make the final, I think he’ll do well.