Kay gives 300 thousand dollars to Beaumont...

Even Rick's critics usually concede that he did a good job during last year's brutal hurricane season. Kay has been working to neutralize that possible advantage (link). Excerpt follows:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Texas’ senior Senator, today announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce, through the Economic Development Administration (EDA), has awarded $300,000 to the South East Texas Economic Development District to help minimize economic dislocations resulting from natural disasters and improve responsiveness and effectiveness in the recovery process.

“It can take years for a community to recover from a storm that lasts only a few hours, and many Texans are still feeling the effects of Hurricane Ike,” said Sen. Hutchison. “This economic development award will quicken the recovery process and provide valuable insight into mitigating the damages that will be caused by future storms.”

I was in Houston during the day a few weeks ago for a conference downtown, and there were still windows in buildings with particle board covering them from last summer. If Houston still has it bad, I can only imagine Beaumont and some of the other cities along the coast. This issue probably won't be too strong of an advantage for either candidate when it is all said and done.