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Born to Runoff: Playlists for Saturday's Mayoral Election-Night Parties

Thursday evening Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker, clearly anticipating a weekend of celebration, posted the following message to Twitter asking for playlist suggestions for her election night party.

So far the official suggestions are pretty lame, so Rocks Off is coming to the rescue with some choice tracks of our own. And just so Gene Locke doesn't feel left out, we've made a playlist for him too.

For Annise Parker:

"We Built This City," Starship

Rocks Off isn't sure what else Parker will deem as "important!" during her potential term as mayor, but if there's one thing we are sure of, it's that music makes everything funner, even balancing our city's $103 million deficit! Whee!

"It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World," James Brown

Houston's first (and so far, only) female mayor, Kathryn Whitmire, was elected a quarter-century ago. Back then the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits, of which Parker is a proud member, didn't even exist.

"Every Breath You Take," The Police

Google "Annise Parker" and you'll see that dozens of national blogs and news organizations are keeping a close watch on the election, since a win for Parker will make Houston the largest city in America with a gay mayor. However, much like Barack Obama's win puts extra scrutiny on future black politicians, Parker will have to do more than just get elected to make inroads for gay politicians in the state.

"Higher Ground," Stevie Wonder

In the Harris County League of Women Voters Voters' Guide, Parker says the city's broken infrastructure led to flooding problems and additional emergencies following Ike and Allison. She proposes to review the city's disaster contingency plan to make sure such problems are fixed before future natural disasters occur. Rocks Off is not sure if that plan includes moving the entire city out of the Gulf of Mexico's flood basin or not.

"Electioneering," Radiohead

Before the first election the biggest complaint about the candidates was that the platforms were all so boring. Since the run-off began, Parker has been accused of throwing the first punches. Now the election has gotten dirty. But like Charles Kuffner says, it's all part of the plot.

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Shey is an experienced blogger, social media expert and traveler. She studied journalism at Oklahoma State University before working as a full-time reporter for Houston Community Newspapers in 2005. She lived in South Korea for three years, where she worked as a freelancer.
Contact: Brittanie Shey