...judging from this clip.

(p.s. If you're at work, you might want to put your headphones on.)

Travis County's early voting numbers spiked even higher today; Friday, the last day of early voting, could be a little crazy. After averaging only about 5,000-6,000 per day last week, numbers climbed this week up to 11,828 today. Combined with mail-in ballots, a total of 79,503 votes have been cast, or 14.31% of registered voters.

County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said long lines were reported at voting sites today, and she encourages everyone to take advantage of the last day of early voting on Friday, so as to avoid the possible madness on Election Day. “Voters who think they may have schedule conflicts next Tuesday definitely should take advantage of the final opportunity to cast a ballot on Friday,” DeBeauvoir said.

The Humane Society Legislative Fund released its Congressional Scorecard last week, tracking federal legislators' voting records on major animal-welfare policies. Those policy issues included: a bill banning the transport, possession, purchase, sale, or USDA-funded inspection of horses to be slaughtered for human consumption; legislation creating felony-level penalties for dogfighting and cockfighting and related interstate commerce; the Downed Animal Protection Act prohibiting USDA certification of meat from livestock too injured or sick to walk; a bill restoring a prohibition against using tax dollars to slaughter wild horses and burros; and the PETS act, requiring local authorities to consider pets and service animals in disaster planning. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson was the only Texas official to score a perfect 100, but with a score of zero, Republican Sen. John Cornyn was not alone in the worst of the worst, joined in shame by Texas Reps. Louie Gohmer, Ruben Hinojosa, Randy Neugebauer, and Ted Poe. (On Wednesday, the HSLF announced that it endorses Lloyd Doggett in District 25)– Dan Mottola

I went to a press conference this morning by VoteRescue, an activist group dedicated to ridding our nation of electronic voting machines and going back to paper ballots. More on that press conference later, but in the meantime, keep the 8pm time slot open tonight (Thursday, Nov. 2) so you can watch the documentary Hacking Democracy on HBO. I'm told that if you aren't alarmed by computer voting yet, you will be after you view it (read this preview in today's Salon.com). In fact, if you head down to the Fox and Hound Tavern at 401 Guadalupe, you can watch it with the VoteRescue folks. They'll meet at 7pm for a training session on video documentation of irregularities in this year's election (bring your video camera if you're interested), and then watch Hacking at 8pm.

Carole Keeton Strayhorn today took a rolling pin to Gov. Rick Perry for referring to her as "Mrs. Corrupt Comptroller Politician Woman" in a radio spot. Calling an opponent "corrupt" is one thing, but a "politican woman" is a whole 'nother kettle of fish, according to Strayorn. "You don’t single out a candidate’s gender in political attack ads," the indie candidate said.

The anti-Strahorn spot, called "Feats of Corruption" is a musical ditty modeled after a Bud Light commercial. The Perry campaign launched a similar Chris Bell jingle, calling the Democrat "Mr. Way too Liberal for Texas Guy." (Note to self: Ask Bell if he has a problem with "guy.")

Strayhorn had no complaints about another Perry attack number, titled "Grandma's Attic," because she's rather fond of the "Grandma" handle. At a press conference in Austin before heading to San Antonio Thursday, Strayhorn challenged Perry to "come out from behind his attack ads and meet me on the campaign trail." Not gonna happen. Hear that jing, jing, jing-a-ling? Perry is "Mr. Way Too Busy Prepping for VP Boy."

The eight-day-out campaign finance reports are in with the city clerk. There's not too many surprises: Will Wynn's chickenscratch scribbles as UNITY PAC treasurer reveal his wilder side, while the Nancy Pearls over at Libraries for Austin PAC were the only people thoughtful enough to type up their report.

But the sums are nothing to sneeze at. Read them below the fold...

Democrat Chris Bell said today he has filed an ethics complaint against Health and Human Services chief Albert Hawkins, charging that the commissioner violated the state's ban on conflicts of interest by also serving as a trustee of the Texas Health Institute, a nonprofit organization that has reaped contract work and grant money from his agency. The Statesman reported last week that Hawkins failed to provide this information in his personal financial disclosure statements filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. Bell blamed his Republican opponent, Gov. Rick Perry, for not enforcing conflicts of interest laws within his administration. Hawkins, a Perry appointee, also served as budget director for former Gov. George Bush.

With the election just days away, the debate in Nevada over one ballot initiative, Question 7 – a measure that would legalize and tax-and-regulate the use of marijuana by adults over 21 – is getting more and more heated. Indeed, the folks backing Q7, the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana have filed at least one lawsuit, against a host of Nevada public officials, asking the court to restrain them from using their public office – and thus, taxpayer funds – to stump against the measure, in violation of the state’s Ethics in Government Law. Among those named in the suit is Las Vegas Metro Police Dept. Lt. Stan Olsen who is part of the anti-Q7 group called – I kid you not – the Committee to Keep Nevada Respectable. Not only has Olsen signed off on the CKNR campaign finance reports, but the Committee’s official address is listed as – you guessed it – LVMPD headquarters, a circumstance CRCM argues is a clear violation of the ethics law.

Day 10 of early voting in Travis County saw a sharp jump in the number of ballots cast. Today, 9,592 of you finally made up your minds and punched your tickets. That beats the previous high (from yesterday) by 1,818. The grand totals: combining early in-person votes with mail-in ballots, 67,244 Travis residents have done their patriotic duty; that translates to 12.1% of the county's registered voters.

And man, what is it with that Randalls grocery on Research? Northcross Mall used to always be the most popular site for early voters, but the Research Randalls leads the pack currently with 6,557, followed by 5,651 at Northcross and 5,158 at the Randalls on South MoPac.

Eastside voters! Wake up! If you don't participate in your democracy, you're going to keep getting screwed. The lowest turnout has been at the Northeast Health Center (568), with the Albertsons on Riverside (726) and the HEB on East Seventh (804) joining it as the only sites that have yet to crack 1,000. I'd insert that great Warren Beatty line from Bulworth here, but I just know I'd get called a racist.