Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, doesn't plan to leave the Senate, isn't talking to anybody about a high-falutin' job at the Texas Tech University System, and doesn't really know how any of this talk got started. He first heard about it -- from Austin, not Lubbock -- a week ago. He says Chancellor David Smith -- whose post he supposedly had his eye on -- "is doing a good job as far as I'm concerned." Put a cork in it.
• Another story going around is that Sen. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, is planning to bow out of the Legislature. He was traveling and unavailable to shoot the bull when we called, but here's a sign: He's scheduled a fundraiser for November 30 in Victoria, and he apparently told at least one Republican wannabe that it won't be an open seat in 2006.
• State Sen. Todd Staples, who's giving up that job to run for Texas agriculture commissioner, is backing Robert Nichols of Jacksonville in the four-way race for the Senate seat. He introduced the former highway commissioner at Nichol's official announcement in Palestine. Three other Republicans are in the hunt, including Frank Denton of Conroe, David Kleimann of Willis, and Bob Reeves of Center.
• Radio talk show host Dan Patrick is running for Senate, something he's talked about before but never actually done, but he hasn't given up his radio show at this point. He's joined the pack in SD-7, where Jon Lindsay, R-Houston, has decided not to seek reelection. Patrick will face Houston City Councilman Mark Ellis, and state Reps. Peggy Hamric and Joe Nixon. They're all Republicans, and they've already lived through their first debate. The hot topic in this north Houston suburban district? Schools? Taxes? Transportation? Nope: Immigration and border security.
• Mary Beth Harrell is running for Congress against U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Georgetown. She's billing herself as the wife of a retired military officer and the mother of two active-duty soldiers, and as a tough-on-crime lawyer. She was a "city prosecutor" in Nolanville and was an "interim prosecutor" in Temple. She and her husband operate St. Francis Animal Sanctuary, a non-profit animal rescue outfit, and just opened another one called Assisi Animal Refuge. There's a website: www.marybethharrellforcongress.com. She didn't say so in an email about her announcement, but Harrell is running as a Democrat. That means she's got work to do: Carter got two-thirds of the vote against a Democrat last November, and statewide Democrats averaged 59.1 percent in CD-31 during that cycle.
• Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell, will seek reelection, but she'll have a challenger from her own party. Wade Gent, a 31-year-old attorney whose father, Wayne Gent, is the Kaufman County Judge (we're guessing Kaufman County is one of the few governments in the state that includes a link to The Drudge Report on its homepage, at www.kaufmancounty.net) says the Legislature isn't getting things done and needs new blood. Brown announced, after some local speculation about her plans, that she will in fact seek reelection to a fifth term. And in her announcement, she said she was encouraged to do that by Gov. Rick Perry and by House Speaker Tom Craddick. Gent (the candidate, not the judge) says he's running, in part, because of Brown's vote against a school tax change that would have lowered property taxes by raising the size of homestead exemptions. That would have benefited a lot of people in the district, he says, though it was unpopular with Republican leaders in the House.
• Jody Anderson, who finished second in the Republican primary for HD-12 last year, is running again. Anderson, who was until June the executive director of the Manufactured Housing Association's Texas operation, is hoping to make it to November, where he'd challenge Rep. Jim McReynolds, D-Lufkin. Anderson lost a relatively close race against former Rep. Billy Clemons in 2004; Clemons then lost a 51-49 squeaker to McReynolds.
• Remember Juan Garcia III? He's a naval aviator and Gulf War vet who talked about running for U.S. Senate back when there was some question about whether U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison wanted a return ticket to Washington, D.C. Now that she's running for reelection, Garcia has his name in the hat for another government gig: He's an applicant for the top job at the Texas Lottery Commission.
• Tom DeLay is to Texas Democrats what Hillary Clinton is to the Republicans. He's the guy they use to get their troops lathered up. Andy Brown, one of several Democrats vying to challenge state Rep. Todd Baxter, R-Austin, has flyers out with the tagline: "Progressive Democrat challenges the Tom DeLay machine." Baxter was one of seven candidates who got checks from the Republican National Committee in 2002 that allegedly were "laundered" from corporate money given to the RNC by Texans for a Republican Majority. He survived that slap two years ago, but with DeLay and others in the news, it's back.