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Published October 24, 2014

A pro-democracy protester takes a rest on a barricade in the occupied area of the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Friday, Oct. 24, 2014. Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong plan to hold a spot referendum Sunday on whether to stay in the streets or accept government offers for more talks and clear their protest camps. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)(The Associated Press)

A pro-democracy protester dressed as Spider-man, looks at a drunken anti-occupied supporter at a barricade in the occupied area in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Friday, Oct. 24, 2014. Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong plan to hold a spot referendum Sunday on whether to stay in the streets or accept government offers for more talks and clear their protest camps. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)(The Associated Press)

Anti-occupied protesters demand to remove the barricade in the occupied area in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Friday, Oct. 24, 2014. Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong plan to hold a spot referendum Sunday on whether to stay in the streets or accept government offers for more talks and clear their protest camps. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)(The Associated Press)

HONG KONG Hong Kong democracy activists will hold a two-day referendum starting Sunday to gauge protesters' response to government proposals to end the monthlong street occupation.

Protest organizers said late Friday they would register public opinion at the main downtown protest site, where thousands remain camped out, and two other satellite protest zones.

Hong Kong's government has offered to submit a report to the central government noting the protesters' unhappiness with a Beijing-dictated plan to have a 1,200-person committee screen candidates for the city's top leader in the inaugural 2017 election.

Protesters say the committee is weighted toward the central government's preferences and should be scrapped or at least reformed to better represent the Asian financial capital of 7.2 million people.

Hong Kong officials have also offered to hold regular dialogue with protesters about democratic reforms if they end their occupation of three of the city's busiest areas.

The Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the main organizers behind the protests, has already rejected the government offer but still called for the Sunday referendum.

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Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong to vote on government talks offers

Tea party favorite Matt Rinaldi is squaring off against Democrat Paul K. Stafford in the race for Texas House District 115.

Stafford is considered a long shot in the heavily Republican district, which includes parts of Carrollton, Coppell, Irving, Farmers Branch and Addison.

Rinaldi, 39, narrowly edged out incumbent Bennett Ratliff in the GOP primary. Libertarian Kim Kelley is also on the ballot in the Nov. 4 election.

This is Staffords first bid for public office. The 46-year-old attorney describes himself as a conservative Democrat who has been chairman of the Farmers Branch Business Community Advisory Board and served on an advisory board for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Texas has the most dynamic economy in the United States, and wed like to keep it that way, said Stafford who supports tax abatement for small business start-ups.

He criticizes his opponent for wanting to abolish Gov. Rick Perrys Emerging Technology and Enterprise funds.

Im the only candidate that would reach across the aisle and would govern in a fashion that Texans deserve, Stafford said.

Rinaldi said hes opposed to corporate welfare and believes the best way to fuel economic growth is through low taxes and a favorable regulatory climate.

The Republican candidate has also pledged not to vote for any budget that increases spending more than what is needed to account for inflation and population growth. He said the projected 6 percent to 7 percent increase in the state budget is reasonable.

Both candidates say they believe education is one of the states top priorities but differ in their approach to school funding.

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Tea party favorite, conservative Democrat vie for state House seat in northwest Dallas County

Dan Patrick is a political dirt-digger's dream, a candidate with a history of incendiary comments, a bankruptcy and two hospitalizations for mental health issues, one after an attempted suicide.

He is also poised to become lieutenant governor of Texas and thus one of the most powerful and important politicians in the country's second most-populous state.

The tea party movement may be flagging elsewhere in the country. But here in Texas it's going strong, shoving establishment Republicans out the door and promising to push this already deeply conservative state even further right.

Texas is no longer the bastion of country-club Republicanism that twice elected George W. Bush governor in the 1990s. Even the departing governor, Rick Perry, might have a hard time surviving a GOP primary these days; Patrick has gained considerable traction with a pledge to end in-state tuition for college students in the country illegally, a policy that Perry defended at great political cost when he ran for president in 2012.

While Patrick's story, with its harrowing valleys, may be a testament to perseverance and personal redemption, his expected election Nov. 4 also speaks to the impotence of Texas Democrats, whom Patrick promises to further undercut with the formidable powers the lieutenant governor wields as the state Senate's presiding officer.

He has promised to appoint fewer Democratic committee chairs and to scrap the long-standing convention that requires two-thirds support to bring a bill to a vote on the floor; the latter has been one of the few levers of power held by outnumbered Democrats in Austin, the state capital.

But it's not just Democrats who fret about Patrick's ascension. Many fellow Republicans wince at his heat-seeking rhetoric, especially on illegal immigration, and fear his short-term success will hurt the party in the long run, given Texas' shifting demographics and rapidly growing Latino and Asian populations.

"It's going to bite us in the butt," Jerry Patterson, who lost to Patrick in a nasty four-way GOP primary, said in an interview. Patterson, the state land commissioner, plans to vote for the Libertarian candidate for lieutenant governor rather than support his party's nominee.

Patrick was not reachable for comment, part of a lay-low strategy that includes avoiding news coverage by withholding the time and place of his public appearances. (He does keep followers apprised on Facebook: "It's been a SELFIE kind of day. On my SW flight today the pilot took a SELFIE of all of the passengers ...then Miss BeBe from Fort Worth took one, I met her on the plane, & I took a SELFIE tonight speaking to a huge gathering in Dallas.")

Patrick, 64, a two-term state senator from Houston, came to the Legislature via talk radio and, before that, sports broadcasting, where he acquired a reputation for stunts such as painting himself blue to support Houston's former NFL team, the Oilers. (He shares a name with a better-known sportscaster who works for NBC.)

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Texas candidate shows tea party's strength in the state

UEFA Probes Ukraine Fans Over Putin Song: Anti-Russian chants heard at Belarus tie
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UEFA Probes Ukraine Fans Over Putin Song: Anti-Russian chants heard at Belarus tie - Video

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Video ID: 20141022-033 M/S Naumova with fans and press M/S Naumova readies to bench press C/U School girls M/S Naumova bench pressing M/S Naumova bench press...

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Ukraine: Meet the world's STRONGEST girl inspiring strength in Donetsk's children - Video