Bloggers are in a tizzy over the possibility of four more years of Gov. Rick Perry. They're also talking money, discussing the legal problems of Houston public officials and writing about presidential politics. And then there's the usual list of miscellaneous posts.
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Good Hair Day
The Dallas Morning News caught Gov. Perry saying he will run again in 2010 [1]. The report sends BurkaBlog into implosion mode: "This is bad news for Texas, bad news for Texans, and bad news for the Republican party." After several heart attacks, Burka arrives at a singularity: "He has also built a career out of getting into Kay Bailey Hutchison’s head. That’s what this was all about. Throw her off stride [2]." Says musings,"Taunting Kay Bailey is his favorite method of self-gratification [3]."
Austin Political Report is skeptical: "Don't count on it. [4]" But lobbyist CliffJohnson says he's not surprised, according to Postcards. It could be a smart political move [5], says Burnt Orange Report.
KVUE's Political Junkie has reaction [6] from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Hutchison, and Texas Democratic Party chair Boyd Richie. Here's audio of Hutchison [7] from Postcards from the Lege, the Austin American-Statesman's blog. (She doesn't sound not annoyed.)
Maybe Perry was just joking around, but it sure doesn't sound like it in this conversation [8] captured by PoliTex, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's blog. Here's the text [9]. Texas Cloverleaf wonders why everyone's making a commotion over a race in two years for a relatively weak office [10].
Hutchison and Perry might both face opposition from the religious right in a tough primary, speculates [11] Capitol Annex, adding that what Dewhurst really wants is to be Senator.
Postcards mentions likely Democratic candidates as Houston Mayor Bill White, '06 nominee Chris Bell and, of course, John Sharp [12]. And here [13]'s the take from Chronic, the Austin Chronicle's blog. Meanwhile, Perry supports [14] (the formerly?) embattled House Speaker Tom Craddick in this PoliTex entry.
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Dough Boys
Incumbent Sen. John Cornyn reports having $8.7 million in cash, compared to about $330,000 for Democratic challenger Rick Noriega.
Burnt Orange does its best to spin [15] the news to Noriega's benefit. Half-Empty takes a stab at it here [16]. And Trail Blazers has the viewpoints from both campaigns here [17]. So does [18] PoliTex. Meanwhile, Political Junkie breaks down [19] Cornyn's Benjamins.
Texas Politics, the Houston Chronicle's blog, says fundraising should get easier for Noriega [20] now that he's out of the primary, but he's going to have to bring in big money this quarter if he's to have any chance in November. Postcards compares [21] the Cornyn-Noriega situation to James Webb's defeat of George "Macaca" Allen in Virginia in 2006. Postcards also says that Cornyn's $8.7 million war chest is about the same size as Hutchison's [22] was at this time two years ago.
Former Texas Justice judge Larry Joe Doherty is getting fundraising help from national Democratic bloggers [23], says Burnt Orange. More about Doherty's money from Annex can be found here [24].
Incumbent Democratic Reps. Ciro Rodriguez and Nick Lampson have far more cash on hand [25] than their Republican challengers, says Burnt Orange. And financially independent Democrat Michael Skelly has raised about three times as much money as incumbent [26] Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, says Texas Blue. On an unrelated note, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, plans on raising cash in Austin [27], says Postcards.
And Trail Blazers, the Dallas Morning News's blog, has a list of big-time Texas bundlers [28] for John McCain. (Some names should ring familiar.)
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Like Stepping on Rakes
State Rep. Borris Miles, D-Houston, takes a pretty good mugshot [29], in Political Junkie's opinion. Also via Political Junkie,Texans for Fiscal Responsibility's Michael Quinn Sullivan has a video parodying [30] state Rep. Hubert Vo, D-Houston, who's been accused of being a slumlord. (The video gets the Texas Safety Forum seal of approval [31].)
Active Miles and Vo supporter Brains and Eggs laments, "Truthfully, the sadness that I feel at the self-inflicted destruction of these two men makes me want to give up on offline political activism [32]."
And Tex Parte Blog reports on a Fifth Circuit opinion [33] that "A Harris County trial judge's off-the-record comment in open court that he was "doing God's work to see that defendant [Carl Wayne] Buntion gets executed" is not grounds as a matter of law for a new trial."
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Top of the Ballot
Burnt Orange takes umbrage [34] at the GOP's call for U.S. Rep. Rodriguez, a "super delegate," to endorse either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Trail Blazers says the elephants also targeted [35] Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford.
El Paso's state Democratic delegates are in jeopardy. Burnt Orange wants to know what's going on [36], sparking some interesting comments.
Burnt Orangemaps [37] the results of state senate district and county conventions.
Obama's Chicago pastor Jeremiah Wright is coming to Dallas [38] on April 27, says PoliTex.
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Odds and ends
Tex Parte Blog: 16th Dallas County inmate cleared by DNA testing [39]; Solicitor General R. Ted Cruz is new father [40].
Burnt Orange: Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, may run for Kyle Janek's Senate seat [41]; Fewer kids enrolled in CHIP [42].
Eye on Williamson: Activist's impressions of T. Don Hutto immigration detention facility [43].
Grits for Breakfast: DNA collection and preservation [44]; DNA exonerations [45].
Mike Falick's Blog: Spring Branch survey on recess [46]; top 10 amazing chemistry videos [47]; physics can be phun [48]; Abraham Lincoln's letters online [49].
Blue: Interview with Paul Harper, Somervell County Democratic Party chair [50]; interview with state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin [51].
I Love Beer: Texas winners at World Beer Cup [52].
Postcards: Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams not interested in being Attorney General [53]; video interview with Williams [54].
PoliTex: Texas Republicans vs. Scientology [55].
Houston Political Blog: Politicians turn out for wounded vets [56].
The Swanky Conservative: How many five-year-olds could you take on? [57]
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 [58] 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 [59].