A week or so ago, I posted about the Democratic Primary for the 2010 Texas Governor's race.  It features the establishment candidate, Bill White, former mayor of Houston, and Farouk Shami, a wealthy Houston businessman who is a Palestinian immigrant.  Tonight, there was a debate between the two.

The reality is that Shami has no chance.  But, Bill White wanted some free TV time so he went along with the idea that Shami is a major candidate.  Unfortunately for White, this one debate was only broadcast on the local PBS station.  White's real hope is more likely that he gets at least a minute or two on local newscasts around the state.

My hope was that Shami would make crazy accusations against White that would leave White answering questions like, "When did you stop beating your wife?"  Unfortunately for me, no such theatrics occurred.

Shami did come off as an unusual candidate:

• He repeated his pledge that if 100,000 jobs were not created in his first two years, then he would pay the state $10 million.  White did not match this pledge.
• Shami said he is pro-choice but that abortion should only be legal during the first 60 to 90 days of pregnancy.  White said that he agreed with the Supreme Court.  A good follow-up would have been whether White supported the recent Citizens United ruling.  I suspect his somewhat abdicating "I agree with the Supreme Court" answer would be different.
• Shami said he was for a moratorium on the death penalty because he believes Texas has executed "lots" of innocent people.  But, when pressed, he said he was for the death penalty where we are "110% sure" of guilt.  White said he is not for a moratorium and just wants to improve the appeals process.
• Shami said he would make sure every Texan had a job.  He made it sound like he was going to hire them himself.  White said that the Texas Governor does not control the economy.  Shami responded that White is another politician who is all talk and little action.  I think both were right to point out each other's likely incompetence.
• Shami said that he would make the border with Mexico more open (my word) so that businesses would straddle the border and families would not be divided.  He said, "A day without Mexicans is like a day without sunshine."  White said that he supports the E-verify (I think this is the right name) for businesses.  He refrained from comparing foreigners to the weather.
• Shami said he was for gay marriage.  For some reason, the moderator did not have White answer this question.  Lucky break for White to not have to offend either side.
• Both are against school vouchers to give parents more choice and want to spend more tax money on public education.  Shami wants community colleges to be free and for tuition at universities to be capped.  It wasn't clear where the money will come from since Texas is projected to have a deficit to fix when the legislature meets again in 2011.  White claimed that he left Houston with a surplus although Annise Parker just got elected mayor by saying the opposite.

Overall, White played along by treating Shami with respect.  Shami lobbed some accusations at White, all related to White's six years as Houston mayor.

• Shami said that Houston lost a net 23,000 jobs during White's terms.
• He said that Houston was left with a $103 million deficit.
• He said Houston was the 3rd most toxic city in the U.S and specifically said that White didn't do enough to control benzene pollution.

White being a wonky, control freak responded by claiming credit various programs that Houston implemented that most people have probably never heard of.  He originally got himself elected mayor by saying he would synchronize traffic lights.  One of his first acts as mayor was to fly around in a helicopter trying to personally fix traffic.  So far, he does not appear to have his core theme lined up.

All in all, the whole thing was a rather pointless exercise and certainly not much fun was had.  Shami did not come close to being the crazy rich guy candidate that Clayton Williams was in 1990.  Although, to be fair to Claytie, if he had run a campaign in 1990 advocating gay marriage, it would have been seen as crazier than anything else he did.

I was left wondering a couple of things:

• Did White help himself or not?  Free TV time is normally a good thing.  I wonder whether getting on the stage with an unserious candidate diminished White.  I certainly hope so.

• Did Stellaa follow through and make her donation to Shami's campaign?  In comments on my prior post, she indicated she would.  I wonder whether she researched more about him.  I suspect his unique and quite specific position on abortion might cause her some regret.

No animals were harmed during the writing of this blog post.