An allegedly underhanded online tactic gets bloggers to talking about the 2010 gubernatorial contest. There's discussion of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, incumbent Gov. Rick Perry and everybody else in their wake. The City of Houston was big enough to get its own sub-head, and news that will strike fear in Texans' bleeding hearts leads off the last section of miscellaneous posts.

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How to Whisper... Online

A day after the Austin American-Statesman's Postcards discovered the phrase "Rick Perry gay" in the Hutchison campaign's StandByKay.com source code (which no casual user would ever see), the campaign dismissed the consultants who told them it was a good idea in the first place. The StandByKay site now redirects to texans.forkay.com. We assume Texans for Rick Perry would say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Here's a response from Rick vs. Kay (which has tended to support the incumbent): "Kay may have just earned that distinction... dirty trick Kay, although I am waiting for all the facts before jumping to conclusions," the blogger says.

In the Pink writes about the money situation in the governor's race. Somehow, some way, a commenter brings up an old (and completely unverified) story involving Hutchison and shampoo salvaged from a neighbor's trashcan.

Hutchison shouldn't have told everyone that she was going to resign in hopes that Perry would step down, Prof13 says.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Hutchison included language in a federal transportation bill that would prohibit tolls on existing Texas interstates through September 2010, says the Houston Chronicle's Texas on the Potomac.

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Shoe Closet

Like shoes? Support Perry? Like supporting Perry on your shoes? Well, send 'em on in to Texans for Rick Perry's "Kicks for Rick" campaign. Hair Balls thinks it would be funny to flood the Flickr account with photos of masculine feet in ladies' pumps. And the Dallas Morning News' Trail Blazers thinks it's appropriate to illustrate a story on campaign funding with a picture of a younger Perry in senior boots and Midnight uniform.

The Guv named Fox News talker Sean Hannity an "Honorary Texan" at a freedom-themed event in Houston. That prompted Brazosport News to issue an angry tweet: "Honorary Texanhood shouldn't be given out lightly, sir. And not to curry political favor. I'm disappointed."

Here are some other Honorary Texans designated by Perry, according to various places on the Internet: GOP pundit Rush Limbaugh, San Antonio Spur Sean Elliott, tennis players Anna Kournikova and Pete Sampras, musician Chris Knight and Indian Member of Parliament Sunil Dutt. (Then-Gov. George W. Bush made musician Bob Dylan a Texan a few days before becoming President. And former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani claimed honorary Texanhood at a Lone Star State fundraiser in D.C., but we don't know if Perry had anything to do with that. Also, Perry once sent late night comic Craig Ferguson a list of requirements to become a Texan, but it's unclear if Ferguson followed through.)

In other news, Perry admitted that he watches HBO vampire show True Blood, according to Trail Blazers. No word on his opinion of the Twilight series.

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Wing Waiters

The Statesman's First Reading has a podcast with SMU Prof. Cal Jillson. According to Jillson, Perry doesn't have deep roots with Texas voters outside of the GOP's conservative wing. (Perry's benefited from "fortunate" circumstances in his election bids, Jillson says.) Meanwhile, people "feel good" about Hutchison, but wonder how she'll fare in a mano a mano with the incumbent Guv. On a related note, First Reading summarizes the effects on some key politicos if Hutchison does indeed step down from the U.S. Senate this fall.

Capitol Annex says the logical choice for a Perry appointment is Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, because he's rich, and his appointment would clear the rest of the GOP primary field. And McBlogger says Travis County will be contested territory should Democrats John Sharp and Bill White do battle for Hutchison's seat, judging by two important supporters he ran into.

Rick vs. Kay relays info on Hutchison's new campaign manager from the Palmetto Scoop, a South Carolina website. The blogger calls Terry Sullivan one of the state's "most despicable political operatives." And Rhetoric & Rhythm dubs the third Republican contender for governor, Wharton County GOP chair Debra Medina, "The Sarah Palin of South Texas."

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Houston's Chronicles

The Democratic Lone Star Project links Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston, Harris County Associate Voter Registrar Ed Johnson and Tax Assessor-Collector Leo Vasquez under the headline "Dwayne Bohac's Corrupt Enterprise." Allegedly, Bohac used Johnson to obtain drivers license records to enhance his consultant firm's voter data file. (The blogger also reports that Vasquez has taken Johnson off voter registration duties and reassigned him to communications; here's the Houston Chronicle's take on that.)

BurkaBlog jumped a flight to Washington, D.C., and spoke to Democratic U.S. Reps. Gene Green of Houston and Chet Edwards of Waco about their opposition to CO2 cap-and-trade plans. And Lone Star Times lets readers know about Green's town hall meetings in Houston this coming week. The blogger mentions a GOP challenger to Green, Frank Mazzapica, who assures everyone that he's a serious contender, even if he doesn't have any money yet.

It wasn't a good week for imprisoned Houston financier R. Allen Stanford, according to Tex Parte Blog. Stanford's lawyer quit because of paycheck worries, and his air-conditioning isn't working. (Plus the whole being in prison thing.) And BlogHOUSTON notes that the Chron has gone with a bunch of different reporters to cover the political beat vacated by Alan Bernstein, and says that the newspaper seems to be running a lot more on local Republicans than Dems.

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Roving Eye

He's ba-aack... Or, he will be soon, Karl Rove that is, in Texas, according to Potomac.

Nearly 90 percent of all new college students from now until 2015 will have to be Hispanic if the state is to reach the diversity goal it adopted in 2000, according to the Statesman's The Low Down on Higher Education. En todo, Texas lawmakers created 40 new laws this past session, reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Poli-Tex. That's down from about 50 each in the couple of sessions prior.

Here's a full list of the Dallas Morning News' blogs. And Phillip Martin is leaving Burnt Orange Report to go earn a paycheck somewhere.

This edition of Out There was compiled and written by Patrick Brendel, who hails from Victoria but is semi-settled in Austin. 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 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.