October 22nd, 2012 Early voting begins today; statewide Democratic candidates get surprise newspaper endorsements

Hey Texans, early voting starts today! It runs through Friday, November 2nd (Election Day is Tuesday, November 6th). You can find out where to vote here.

While the presidential race may be the most exciting, we know that we Texans will have very little influence on the outcome given the electoral college. And not all of us live in competitive congressional or state legislative district either, but all of our votes are important in the statewide races:

-I’ve mentioned Paul Sadler before. He’s the Democratic candidate running against Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz to replace Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. To say he is an underdog would be an understatement, but he has (shockingly) been endorsed by both the Dallas Morning News and Fort-Worth Star Telegram, which should given his campaign some needed attention.

-State papers are also endorsing Keith Hampton, a Democrat who is running for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, where the death penalty has become a major issue against Republican incumbent Sharon “we close at 5″ Keller. He has (again, shockingly) been endorsed by the DMN, Star-Telegram, Houston Chronicle, and was the only Democrat endorsed by the San Angelo Standard-Times.

Also, since I live in Denton, I’m going to give a shout out to to Mary Brown and David Sanchez, Democrats running against State Rep. Myra Cronover and Congressman Michael Burgess, respectively.

Go vote!