Stop the Presses

It's a harsh job, this news business, exposing the shameful secrets of officeholders. We sometimes shudder at the truths we reveal, like this one: Congressman Martin Frost is--brace yourselves--a Democrat!

OK, so maybe that's not a big secret, but judging by the forest of campaign yard signs that have sprouted up in our Northwest Dallas neighborhood, Buzz gets the impression that it's not something he's bragging about. Not one of his 8 zillion signs mentions Frost's party affiliation. Neither did the campaign literature his volunteers dropped by our house. Nor did a recent campaign mailer, which stresses his bipartisanship. His opponent Pete Sessions, meanwhile, has the word Republican printed on his signs almost as big as his name.

"We wanted people to actually look at the records of the candidates," says Justin Kitsch, Frost's campaign press secretary. "We're going to make the race about who's for North Texas values."

Unfortunately, a whole lotta North Texans value the Republican Party. Kitsch pointed out that Sessions' signs omit his party in the more Democratic Oak Cliff part of District 32, which we thought was pretty cute until we drove down there and saw it wasn't true.

Still, here's hoping that open-minded voters will overlook Frost's Democratic orientation and help Dems overcome the stigma of being the party that dare not speak its name.

We know this because Dallas Morning News music critic Thor Christensen mentioned it in his review. Now it's our turn: Phil Collins hates Christensen.

After Christensen wrote a somewhat negative review of a Collins concert, Collins sent the critic a letter, then posted it on his Web site.

"Nowhere in [other reviews] have I found anything approaching the sarcastic tone of yours," the letter states "...Well, up yours with a pointed stick, Thor."

"I was really surprised that he still bothers to read his reviews," Christensen says. "Critics have only been ripping his ballads for, like, 20 years. You'd think he would have developed a thicker skin by now." --