[EM] Dallas Mayor runoff election story

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

D -- Reality check -- a real world runoff election --- not sure of the cost 
for it (versus the cost of having ANY sort of accurate single winner method).

How much *ballot-tampering and endorsement-buying* would there be with a 
single winner method -- more ? less ? same ?
------
Dallas to Pick a New Mayor

By SUSAN PARROTT
  
DALLAS (AP) - A former City Council gadfly and an insurance executive favored 
by the business community meet in a runoff for mayor Saturday after a 
hard-fought campaign marked by allegations of ballot-tampering and 
endorsement-buying. 

In a poll of 1,019 likely voters conducted this week, 48 percent said they 
would vote for Laura Miller, the former councilwoman, while 38 percent said 
they prefer Tom Dunning. 

Both candidates are Democrats who advanced to the runoff after a five-way 
election on Jan. 19 left no candidate with the required 50 percent of the 
vote. 

In the month since, both Miller and Dunning have been accused of offering to 
buy the endorsement of one of their rivals, state Rep. Domingo Garcia, by 
paying off his campaign debt. Garcia finished third in last month's 
balloting. The district attorney in neighboring Fort Worth has been called in 
to investigate. 

This week, Miller's campaign questioned whether Dunning's political 
operatives tampered with mail-in ballots from homebound senior citizens. On 
Wednesday, Dunning fired an operative who ran a mail-in ballot effort, 
saying, ``We will not engage in any practices that might appear questionable, 
even if they are legal.'' 

Before joining the City Council, Miller, 43, was a muckraking newspaper 
columnist critical of city government. Dunning, 59, said he will be a better 
consensus builder and has the support of many council members. 

The winner of the mayor's race will serve the rest of Ron Kirk's term, which 
runs through May 2003. Kirk, who left a legacy of big projects like a $420 
million arena, resigned as mayor in November to run for the Senate. 

Both candidates have touted a back-to-basics approach that emphasized street 
repairs, parks and crime-fighting.