As the Texas primaries approach, bloggers are typing furiously about White House hopefuls. They're also writing about state and U.S. representatives, early voters and two things that didn't fit anywhere else. And we've got a photo finish!
Top of the Ballot
Burnt Orange Report updated its Texas Superdelegate Watch [1], reports on Bill Clinton's rally at the University of Texas at Austin [2], was on site for Barack Obama surrogate Samuel L. Jackson's talk with 600 folks in Tyler [3] (three-quarters of whom showed up to demand refunds for their tickets to Snakes on a Plane), and has comments on early voting [4] from the Obama and Clinton campaign.
In the Pink Texas continues its series of reader reflections on candidate choice, featuring a Brazosport Democrat [5], a Latina for Obama [6], a Joe Ely fan for Clinton [7], a 50ish white Texas male for Obama [8], a Republican for Hillary Clinton [9] and a torn Wallflower Jr. [10].
Texas Blue has a handful of interviews with presidential campaign insiders [11], while Chris Bell calculates that IA + NH = TX [12].
Trail Blazers, the Dallas Morning News's blog, has a series of .mp3 files featuring Obama [13] and spots [14] Mark McKinnon at a John McCain event, while Anti Corruption Republican is outraged [15], simply outraged, that the Obama campaign would call and ask for his/her vote.
KVUE's Political Junkie got some face time in the bathroom [16] with Obama, while Clinton met with lawyers in Dallas [17], according to Tex Parte Blog.
CD-24 candidate Tom Love is feeling the love [18] from former Pres. Clinton in this Burnt Orange post, while former state Rep. Debra Danburg is giving [19] some love to Hillary Clinton. And the Houston Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus likes Obama [20]. (No, not the way you're thinking, Rick Perry [21]!)
The Dallas Morning News's Trail Blazers says Bill O'Reilly mentioned Perry as a possible VP [22] , but according to Professors-R-Squared's calculations, the governor doesn't even make the list of possible candidates [23].
After looking at all these polls on the Clinton-Obama Texas contest from Houtopia [24], In the Pink [25], Blue [26], and Junkie (one [27] and two [28]), the conclusion is: it's close.
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Bicameral
Burnt Orange says state Rep. Kevin Bailey, D-Houston, is "running scared [29]" (because GOP types are giving him money), and Dos Centavos has a list of endorsements [30] for opponent Armando Walle.
Capitol Annex is concerned about "right wing cash [31]" going to state Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Stafford, "Republican dollars [32]" going to HD-43 Democratic candidate Tia Rios Ybarra and GOP donations [33] to El Paso Democrat Marisa Marquez. [eds. note: But no mentions of Carol Alvarado contributors in Houston?]
Half Empty takes a look [34] at the HD-27 Democratic primary, while PinkDome wonders what House Speaker Tom Craddick is doing with a $2,698 office chair [35].
The El Paso Times's blog Vaqueros & Wonkeros keeps track of the battles for El Paso state house seats here [36], here [37], here [38], here [39], here [40], here [41], here [42], here [43], here [44], here [45], here [46] and here [47]. BurkaBlog's take on El Paso is here [48]. And Burka offers his list of endangered state representatives [49].
ABC13's Political Blog sums up the, ahem, crowded CD-22 GOP field [50] thusly: "Less than a week to go, 10 candidates. [Pete] Olson is mad at [John] Manlove, [Shelley] Sekula-Gibbs (sic) is sending out email blasts against Olson, [Brian] Klock is trying to show he's a serious candidate, and everyone's looking for air time!" In other CD-22 news, Half Empty still hasn't figured out what a push poll is [51].
CD-10 Democrat Dan Grant can add another name to his burgeoning Rolodex of endorsers -- Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle [52]. And Burnt Orange joined the Grant fan club [53], too. Meanwhile, CD-7 independent John Truitt is dropping out of the race [54], reports Off the Kuff.
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Worm Getters
Texas early voting smashed all known records, but what does it all mean?
Off the Kuff reads around, looks at the data and historical trends and says "I have no idea how this will play out. [55]" Texas Observer Blog thinks Texas might get another Hispanic congressional seat [56], whatever that entails. Meanwhile, Burka calls the turnout "a dominant performance [57]" by Democrats, and wonders if all those ladies voting for Clinton down in the Valley are going to boost other female candidates [58].
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Odd Couple
According to recent polling, Rick Noriega leads in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary with 32 percent [59]. Runner up? Gene Kelly, with 15 percent. Third? Ray McMurrey, at 8 percent. Chronic, the Austin Chronicle's blog, is not happy.
And Observer sets itself up for ridicule in hindsight by engaging in Round 2 of "Down Ballot Prognosticating [60]."
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Photo Finish
Somebody must have given Blue a video camera for Christmas: They've got moving pictures from the "Spin Room" at the Obama-Clinton debate in Austin, featuring Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas [61], Rep. Ana Hernandez, D-Houston [62], Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas [63], Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston [64], U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco [65], former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk [66], Democratic strategist Ed Martin [67], Clinton state campaign chair Garry Mauro [68] and Clinton strategist Mark Penn [69] (There's also audio interviews with U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston [70], U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston [71], Kirk [72] and Mauro [73].)
Blue, too, has videos of a Bill Clinton speech in Dallas [74] and environmental scenes [75] from the same rally, while Burnt Orange has YouTube of U.S. Sen. John Kerry in Brownsville [76].
Texas Observer Blog uses a nice photo of Gov. Rick Perry [77] to lure readers into a scathing article about his book, and Political Blog takes five minutes of Clinton's time [78] and puts it on the Web.
Here are pictures from a breakfast [79] hosted by Noriega at Tito's Mexican Restaurant in San Antonio, via Walker Report, and a creepy still frame [80] from state Rep. hopeful Brian Thompson's TV ad, via Chronic.
Trail Blazers goes with the lesser-utilized .bmp file format [81] when posting these pics from Obama's Dallas rally, while Austinist has flash slideshows of Ron Paul at the UT campus [82] and of Obama in Austin [83].
This edition of Out There was compiled and written by Patrick Brendel, who hails from Victoria but is spending the spring in the mid-Atlantic region. We cherry-pick the state's political blogs each week, looking for news, info, gossip, and new jokes. The opinions here belong (mostly) to the bloggers, and we're including their links so you can hunt them down if you wish. Our blogroll — the list of Texas blogs we watch — is on our links [84] page, and if you know of a Texas political blog that ought to be on it, just shoot us a note. Please send comments, suggestions, gripes or retorts to Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey [85].