A new poll provides some evidence that my analysis of the 2009 Houston Mayor’s race was in the ballpark.

• “Don’t Know/Undecided” continues in first place at 36%.  This is down from an early high of 70% and a more recent 40%.  As I wrote before, it would be nice to know how much “Who Cares” would get.
• Peter Brown is the rich white guy liberal Democrat spending millions on advertising to fool people into thinking he is a conservative businessman.  Guess what?  He’s now in the lead at 24%.  This follows my observation that Brown is following the model of the 2003 Bill White campaign where he buys the victory even though no one knows who he is.
• Annise Parker, the lesbian liberal Democrat is in second place at 19%.  This is based on her name recognition from being the City Controller and an open but not-in-your-face lesbian.
• Gene Locke, the black guy liberal Democrat, is in third place at 13%.  He’s backed by the powers that be in town.  He is trying to follow the Barack Obama strategy.  First, convince white people that you are not that black.  Then, after black people think you aren’t black, convince them again that you are.
• Roy Morales, the Latino conservative Republican is in a distant fourth place at 7% and bereft of money and not really supported by the Republican establishment.  He’s just in this to have fun.