Clinton and Obama to Meet in Austin Next Week — Though, Likely Not at Scholz Garten, Shame

The official word is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will debate in Austin on February 21, and it’ll be carried on both CNN and Univision — kickoff’s at 7 p.m., so prepare your pregame festivities accordingly. Out of curiosity this afternoon, I Googled the phrases “Obama Dallas” and “Clinton Dallas” — either that or write something for the paper version of Unfair Park. “Clinton Dallas” doesn’t yield much, just some outdated news stories. “Obama Dallas,” though, brings up ObamaDallas.com, the grassroots site active since June ’07. There you’ll discover that on Sunday, former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk will be leading the charge during a march and rally at Fair Park beginning at 10 a.m. Says here it’s supposed to last 12 hours. Sounds a little long, y’ask me.

Also, tomorrow night you can meet some of Obama’s national campaign staffers. All you gotta do is contact … lemme see if I have this right … yup … Starshine. After the jump is Obama’s first Texas campaign ad, scheduled to make its teevee debut tomorrow. When Hillary Clinton’s begin running, we’ll post ’em as well. What else we gotta do? –Robert Wilonsky