8A
NEWS
POLITICS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2009
Campaign gets personal
Houston mayoral candidate's sexuality takes center stage in race
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker will become the city's first openly gay mayor if she defeats her opponent, Gene Locke. Parker, currently Houston's city controller, has never hid her sexuality, but it has become an issue in the current race. Some of Locke's supporters have condemned Parkers' "homosexual behavior," while national gay-right groups have been pouring money into Parker's campaign.
BY MONICA RHOR
Associated Press
HOUSTON — Annise Parker's mayoral campaign Web site bio reads like a catalog of campaign catch phrases: She has been Houston's city controller and a member of city council. She's for job creation, against irresponsible spending and is tough on crime.
Until the last line: "Annie Parker and her life partner, Kathy Hubbard, have been together since 1990. They have two children."
Parker, 53, has never made a secret or an issue of being a lesbian. Not during her bid to be Houston's next mayor nor in previous campaigns.
But others have. If Parker wins the Dec. 12 runoff election, Houston would become what's believed to be the largest U.S. city ever to have an openly gay mayor — and that has catapulted Parker's sexual orientation into the center of the race.
Anti-gay activists and conservative religious groups have endorsed her opponent, former city attorney Gene Locke, and sent out mailers condemning Parker's "homosexual behavior."
Meanwhile, gay and lesbian political organizations nationwide have endorsed Parker, raised money for her and plan to run phone banks rallying her supporters.
The controversy has put Locke in a precarious political position. With the election expected to be tight, the 61-year-old has been trying to distance himself from anti-gay attacks while courting conservative voters who could
tip the race in his
favor. If Locke
wins, he would
be Houston's second
black mavor.
Two of Locke's key supporters contributed money to a conservative political action committee that sent out an anti-gay maller earlier this month, ureing
of Locke's campaign, and James Dannenbaum, a member of the campaign's finance committee, each gave $20,000.
"Gene is disappointed and wishes that Ned Holmes had not made that contribution. Gene has been very clear with his supporters to not participate in divisive campaigning." Kim Devlin, a senior Locke adviser said in a statement Tuesday.
"You don't have many cases where you have an older, straight black male supported by conservatives matched up against a younger, white female ..."
voters not to pick Parker because she was endorsed by the "gay and lesbian political caucus." Campaign finance reports show Ned Holmes, finance chairman
RICHARD MURRAY Political scientist
Locke has fought against bigotry his entire life and knows that there is no place for it in this campaign and this city."
Parker's campaign said she did not want to be interviewed by The Associated Press on the issue.
The dynamics of the mayoral runoff echo California's Proposition 8 vote in 2008, where black voters formed an unusual alliance with conservatives to approve a measure that banned same-sex marriage, said
Richard Murray, a University of Houston political scientist.
"You don't have many cases where you have an older, straight black male supported by conservatives matched up against a younger, white female who happens to be gay, and is backed by non-establishment sources," Murray said. "Normally, you see progressive whites allied with African-Americans. This is exposing the same fault line we saw nationally in Prop 8."
Parker and Locke, both Democrats in the nonpartisan race, made it to the runoff after garnering more votes than two other candidates on Nov. 3.
They are vying to replace Bill White, who is term limited after serving six years and is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.
There are several other openly gay mayors, including in Portland, Ore., Providence, R.I. and Cambridge, Mass.
But Houston, which is largely Democratic, is the nation's fourth largest city. It has about 60,000 residents who identify as gay or lesbian.
SCIENCE
ASSOCIATED PRESENTS
Alexis Massey, 3, of Panama City Beach, Fla., talks to Santa at the Panama City Mall on Wednesday. In a study of letters to Santa, psychologist Carole Stotterback found that kids, contrary to the stereotype, were asking more than just toys.
Study of letters to Santa finds kids' wishes go beyond toys
Associated Press
From the humorous to the heartwrenching, children's wish lists to Santa reveal that children aren't as toy-centric as parents think - and that they're not as polite as perhaps they should be.
SCRANTON, Pa. — A microscope. A new puppy. A mother. And absolutely, positively NO CLOTHES.
The missives were scrawled or painstakingly handwritten on every type of paper and in every shade of ink. Many were decorated with drawings, stickers or glitter; some children gave Santa not only their addresses but their phone numbers, parents' cell phone numbers and their school pictures — just to make sure the Big Guy knew how to find them on Christmas.
Carole Slotterback, a psychology professor at the University of Scranton, analyzed nearly 1,200 letters sent between 1998 and 2003 to the central post office in Scranton, a struggling former coal city in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Slotterback, who describes her findings in the book "The Psychology of Santa," said the
letters "touched me in so many different ways"
"Some are just absolutely a stitch, and others are some of the saddest things I've ever read," she said.
One kid asked to be an elf. Another made a list that included Pokemon cards, a camera and a microscope. But about every third item, the child wrote: "NO clothes."
And then there was the one written in careful cursive on bright
print paper.
which Santa was
asked for perhaps
the greatest gift of
all: a mom.
"Not just for me but my daddy, brother and granny ... my daddy works so hard and then he comes home to cook and clean and it should be easier," the letter read.
The U.S. Postal Service receives hundreds of thousands of letters to Santa each year, with increases
The child drew a 5-cent "stamp" on the envelope before dropping it in the mailbox.
"Some are just absolutely a stitch, and others are some of the saddest things I've ever read."
during tough economic times, said spokeswoman Sue Brennan.
None of them make it to the North Pole. But some do get responses through Operation Santa; about 500,000 letters in New York City alone were answered last year by individuals, companies and postal employees, Brennan said.
Some are funny — one asked Santa to check the appropriate box: Real or not real? — but many more are not, she said.
CAROLE SLOTTERBACK
Scranton University
psychology professor
Children who sent letters instead of lists were generally more polite and chaty, for instance asking about Mrs. Claus, Slutterback said.
"I've never gone 5 or 10 minutes without getting teary," said Brennan. "It's very emotional."
Except for the death threat. One
child wrote: "Dear Santa, I am going to kill you and steal the toys from your workshop." Slotterback reported it to the postmaster, who agreed to contact people at the return address, which she believes was a juvenile facility.
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