Rick Bolaños, an El Paso Democrat running against U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio, is getting out of that race and endorsing fellow Democrat Lukin Gilliland. Voting doesn't start until next week, but we're well past the point where a candidate's name can be taken off the ballot. Bolaños will still be on there. That CD-23 race is crowded, with the three already mentioned, Democrat Augie Beltran of  San Antonio, Democrat Adrian DeLeon of Carrizo Springs, Democrat Ciro Rodriguez of San Antonio, independent Craig Stephens of San Antonio, and Democrat Albert Uresti, also of San Antonio. It's a special election forced by court-ordered redistricting, so it'll take 50 percent to win, either next month or in a runoff a month or so after Election Day.

Out on the endorsement beat. . .

George W. Bush might be having popularity problems someplace, but not in Fort Bend County, Texas. The Republicans there are touting a Bush visit a week from Monday (October 30) for a Get Out the Vote Rally in what used to be Tom DeLay's congressional district.  

• U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison endorsed state Rep. Tony Goolsby, R-Dallas, for reelection. And she got some help, too — former First Lady Barbara Bush endorsed Hutchison at a Dallas Women's Luncheon.

• No legislator left behind: We left Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, off our list of Republicans who went door-knocking on behalf of Rep. Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville. There, it's fixed. His opponent, Republican Larry Durrett, is getting help from Ag Commissioner Susan Combs (who's running for comptroller). She'll hit five towns with Durrett on the first day of early voting.

• David Van Os, the Democratic nominee for Texas attorney general, saved the big ones for the end. He's wrapping up his visits to each of the 254 counties in Texas with stops at the last five county courthouses: Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. And he's added a new line, calling for constitutional limits to eminent domain (allowing it only for public security and safety) and a constitutional ban on toll roads unless voters first approve them.

• Joe Heflin, the Democrat running for Rep. Pete Laney's spot in the state Legislature, adds two more endorsements, one from former U.S. Rep. Charlie Stenholm, D-Abilene, and another from former state Rep. David Counts, D-Knox City. It's a Republican district on paper, and the GOP candidate, Jim Landtroop, is well financed. But Heflin, a former Crosby County judge, has Laney's backing — both in an endorsement and in $20,000 in contributions — and now the support of the other two former officeholders. Landtroop, meanwhile, got a district visit and endorsement from U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Lubbock.

• Out-going Sen. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, endorsed 3rd Appeals Court Justice David Puryear, a Republican, for reelection. That judicial district overlaps Armbrister's Senate district in three counties.

• The Houston Police Officers Union and the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association both snubbed incumbent Rep. Martha Wong, R-Houston, and endorsed Democrat Ellen Cohen in HD-134. They claim 4,500 and 3,800 members, respectively.

• Democrat Valinda Bolton of Austin got the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Texas — that PAC's first endorsement of the year. She's running against Republican Bill Welch for the seat currently held by Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, who didn't seek reelection.

• The Texas Association of Realtors PAC — TREPAC, they call it — isn't looking for much change this year. Their endorsements, with only three exceptions, went to either incumbents or to the candidate from the political party that's been holding a given seat. Where Republicans have been in office, they're with Republicans, and vice-versa. The three endorsements that break that rule: Nick Lampson, the Democrat running for Republican Tom DeLay's seat in Congress; Jim Landtroop, the Republican running for Pete Laney's statehouse seat; and George Antuna, the Republican running for Democrat Carlos Uresti's House seat. DeLay quit. Laney didn't seek reelection. And Uresti is running for state Senate.

The worst-kept secret in West Texas is finally out: Former U.S. Rep. Kent Hance will be the next chancellor of the Texas Tech University System. He's a Tech alum and, the school is hoping, a guy who can transfer his political fundraising skills to his alma mater. Hance started as a Democratic state senator from West Texas in 1974 and won three terms in Congress before losing a Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 1984 to Lloyd Doggett of Austin. He switched parties and lost a gubernatorial primary in 1986, to Bill Clements. Clements appointed Hance to an open seat on the Texas Railroad Commission and Hance won election to that job in 1988. He lost another gubernatorial primary in 1990, to Clayton Williams, and has been a lawyer and lobbyist ever since.

Sonia Mohammed, the clerk for Rep. Fred Hill, R-Dallas, on the Local Government Ways & Means Committee, was selected for the 2007 American Marshall Memorial Fellowship, which means she'll get a three- to four-week trip to Europe to meet with political people and journalists there. It's an exchange program of sorts — the Europeans send people this way every year, too.

Deaths: Former Texas Rep. R.C. Nichols, D-Houston, who served for eight years and was one of the "Dirty 30" reformers who ousted then-Speaker Gus Mutscher, of a bone marrow disease. He was 78.