This is one of those moments when the handler might be better known than the handled.Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell of Houston has a new website design (at www.chrisbell.com) done under the aegis of Joe Trippi, best known as the consultant who got the Howard Dean Internet phenom up and running in 2003. The firm that did the actual work on the site -- EchoDitto -- was started by Nicco Mele, who ran the Dean for America blog during the presidential campaign. In a particular community, those are big names. The new site has a blog, a podcast (a sound file sent to interested parties featuring campaign and candidate news) and "Don't Mess with Ethics," a knockoff of the "Don't Mess with Texas" campaign. Bell, a one-term congressman and former Houston city councilman, hasn't declared for governor; legally speaking, he's "exploring" a race. Offbeat campaign pitch: Mandy Dealey, a candidate for city council in Austin, sent supporters an email with this message: "Make Betty Dunkerley share a bathroom." Clicking on that takes the reader to her website, where they add, "One woman on the Austin city council is not enough. It's not about being politically correct. It's about solving problems and having strength through diversity." Dealey's plea doesn't narrow the field much, though: Her opponents for an open seat on that panel include one male and two females.

U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay won't have Richard Morrison to kick around anymore. The Democrat who challenged the Sugar Land Republican last year won't make the race next time. Houston City Councilman Gordon Quan is openly looking at it, and former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Beaumont, has filed federal papers allowing him to campaign for the post.Lampson's old congressional district is barely contiguous with DeLay's district, but the Beaumont Democrat is running. He (and other Democrats) are betting DeLay will be around in November 2006 and that his name will be sullied enough that a Democrat can win in what appears to be a safely Republican congressional district. There's a small invisible line where the Morgan's Point end of Ted Poe's congressional district touches the LaPorte end of DeLay's congressional district (Poe, a Houston Republican, beat Lampson last year). But most of the district -- including Lampson's Jefferson County home base, is far east of DeLay's district. When the Texas Legislature was redrawing the congressional maps, they put about 17.5 percent of the people who'd been in Lampson's congressional district into DeLay's CD-22. Worse, according to the Texas Legislative Service -- which does the data work for the the state's political maps -- that chunk of Lampson's old district only gave 41.5 percent of its statewide votes in 2002 to the Democrats. Put it simply: The part of Lampson's old district that now belongs to DeLay is three-fifths Republican. DeLay's full district gave 65.9 percent of its statewide vote to Republicans in 2002; in 2004, the worst performance by a Republican on the federal and state ballot in that district was by DeLay himself. He got 55.1 percent to Democrat Richard Morrison's 41.1 percent (a Libertarian and an Independent split the rest). Democrats were encouraged at that lower-than-expected performance by DeLay, but a 14-point margin is formidable. An untarnished Republican running in that district against an untarnished Democrat should win and win easily. But Democrats are hoping DeLay is still on the ballot in November of next year, and that he's bleeding badly enough to make a Democrat look good to conservative voters. If that's the play, a Democrat might be able to attract national money to the contest, and that could change the odds.

Craddick puts Talton on the CPS conference; new gigs for Woelk and Koenning, an extension for FloodThe House contingent settling differences on the foster care bill includes Rep. Robert Talton, R-Pasadena, the author of a House amendment that would require foster parents to register their sexual orientation with the state and would bar gay and lesbian foster parents from the program. The House added that provision on an 81-58 vote; it wasn't in the Senate version. The House group is chaired by Rep. Suzanna Gratia Hupp, R-Lampasas, and includes Reps. John Davis, R-Houston, Toby Goodman, R-Arlington, and Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio. The Senate group, named earlier: Sens. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, chair, Kyle Janek and Jon Lindsay, both R-Houston, Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, and Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo. Sarah Woelk left the Texas Ethics Commission, where she was general counsel, for the Texas Lottery Commission, where she's now the assistant general counsel. Ethics hasn't hired her replacement. Court Koenning, the executive director of the Harris County Republican Party, is leaving for the bidness world (consulting). His replacement hasn't been named. Koenning previously worked for then-Attorney General John Cornyn and for former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm. Gov. Rick Perry reappointed Brian Flood of Austin as inspector general at the Health and Human Services Commission for a term running through January of next year. He left the Dallas County district attorney's office to help sort out the troubles in the state's child protective services program.

... from the federal campaign reportsSix Texans -- not counting the president -- had more than $1 million in their federal campaign accounts at the end of March: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, $7.3 million; Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio, $1.8 million; Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, $1.7 million; Sen. John Cornyn, $1.7 million; former Rep. Jim Turner, D-Crockett, $1.05 million; and Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, $1.0 million. The top fundraisers in the bunch during the first three months of the year: Cornyn, $854,004; Bonilla, $791,319; Hutchison, $758,785; and U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, $458,235.