House Democrats split precisely in half and Republicans were one vote short of unanimous, but that wasn't enough to pass a House rule allowing early introduction of and committee work on legislation.The routine measure failed 108-34, after a group of Democrats made an issue of giving House Speaker Tom Craddick the ability to get legislation moving during the first two months of the session. Its failure could slow House business considerably, but it's unlikely to affect anyone who lives and works more than about three blocks from the Capitol. It's a sign that the partisans have their stingers out. And it's probably a sign that, on issues that aren't important to most members — it's a procedural rule, after all — the House isn't ready to defy the speaker just for the sake of defying him. The 34 Nays included 33 Democrats and Republican Robert Talton of Pasadena, one of four House members who jumped into the race for House Speaker in December. At the time of the vote, there were 33 more Democrats on the floor, and they voted the other way, along with 74 Republicans. Craddick stayed out and seven members were absent. Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, promised to revive the issue for another vote. And there's some history to rely on here: This happened to former House Speaker Bill Clayton, D-Spring Lake, and he got the governor to declare his favored bills "emergencies." That opened them, constitutionally, for consideration and action.

Two kinds of smoke...

Two-thirds of adults in Texas think smoking ought to be banned in places where people work, eat, and drink, according to a poll done by Smoke-Free Texas, a coalition trying to put anti-smoking ideas into state law. That poll, done by Austin-based Baselice & Associates, found that 78 percent of non-smokers want a ban, 66 percent of former smokers want it, and 35 percent of smokers would favor it. Just over half — 54 percent — "strongly favor" such a ban. Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, introduced the legislation; the groups are still looking for a House sponsor. Sixteen other states already have bans in place.

• Tina Benkiser, the chairwoman of the Republican Party of Texas, recently criticized the leader of the House Democratic Caucus, Jim Dunnam of Waco, for pushing for secret votes in the race for speaker. Seems he was against them on another issue, she said. But a Republican we know spotted that one and sent along an example of the same flip-flop — from Benkiser. She was for a secret vote on whether the national GOP should have a "general chairman" tapped by President George W. Bush. That's not an official position, but denying it was a form of bucking the prez, and Benkiser and others angered Bush allies.

• Take Kirk Edwards off the candidate list if you're talking about possible challenges to Rep. Buddy West, R-Odessa. Edwards got an appointment to the board of directors of the El Paso branch of the Federal Reserve.

Enemies got the strap and allies got the cake. Here's the list, and how we scored it.Download a copy of the list here. Or go to the House's web site, where you can browse through the committee pages and see (with pictures) who's where and what their committee is supposed to be doing.

The Democrats who helped reelect House Speaker Tom Craddick were rewarded, while the people who challenged him — and those who had prominent spots and helped the challengers — got busted.

Reps. Brian McCall of Plano, Jim Pitts of Waxahachie, and Robert Talton of Pasadena, all Republicans and challengers, won't be chairing committees this session. Pitts had the most powerful committee in the House — Appropriations — and lost it by challenging the speaker. He won't even be on the panel this time, much less in the chair, though Craddick aides say Pitts was offered a membership spot there (Take a look at that back and forth here). Talton, who'd been chairman of Urban Affairs, won't be in the leadership.

And two Democratic chairmen who helped the challengers — Reps. Craig Eiland of Galveston and Allan Ritter of Nederland — lost the chairmanships, respectively, of Economic Development and Pensions & Investments. Rep. Senfronia Thompson, the Houston Democrat who was the first candidate in the race to challenge Craddick, won't be in the leadership but wasn't there before. Her committee assignments were unchanged.

Eight chairmen who returned won't chair the committees they chaired last session. Kevin Bailey, D-Houston, and Rick Hardcastle, R-Vernon, each got new committees. The four folks above got busted. And so did George "Buddy" West, R-Odessa, who voted with Craddick's challengers on a procedural issue that was read widely — and apparently by the speaker — as a referendum on his leadership. West, from the Permian Basin, no longer heads the House Energy panel. That went to Hardcastle, who's from North Texas. Norma Chavez, D-El Paso, lost her committee chairmanship but got peachy assignments on Appropriations, Calendars, and Financial Institutions.

None of the 68 members who voted against Craddick on that procedural motion will go to the periodic dinners for committee chairmen where the House's business is plotted. But look at what happened to the 15 Democrats who split from the opposition to support Craddick. Ten are now committee chairs. One is the speaker pro tempore — theoretically the number two in the House, though it's mostly ceremonial. Six are on appropriations, including the vice chair. Four made the Calendars Committee, including the vice chair. Four are on both appropriations and calendars, which puts them in position — if they handle it right — to mete out favors and slights to other Democrats who weren't on the team.

Those fifteen Democrats are on demerit lists with some of their fellows, but their support for Craddick paid off this week. The names: Bailey, Chavez, Joe Deshotel of Beaumont, Dawnna Dukes of Austin, Harold Dutton of Houston, Kino Flores of Palmview, Helen Giddings of Dallas, Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City, Tracy King of Batesville, Eddie Lucio III of Brownsville, Ruth Jones McClendon of San Antonio, Aaron Peña of Edinburg, Robert Puente of San Antonio, Patrick Rose of Dripping Springs, and Sylvester Turner of Houston, who'll keep that Speaker Pro Tempore title for another two years.

Demographics and Party: Seven of the 40 committee chairs are women. Thirty are Republicans and ten are Democrats. There are fewer women among the vice chairs — five — and Republicans are slightly less dominant, holding 25 of the 40 seats. Women held 10 chairs two years ago, and seven vice chairs.Republicans, with 54 percent of the membership in the House, hold 75 percent of the chairs, and 62 percent of the number two slots. Two years ago, when six more seats belonged to the GOP in the 150-member House, Craddick put Republicans in 30 chairs and 32 vice chairs. There are four African-American chairs and one vice chair; three Hispanic chairs and five vice chairs. Two years ago, there were three African-Americans in chairmanships and one in a vice chair; five Hispanics in chairs and three in vice chairs. Finally, there was one Asian vice chair two years ago (Martha Wong, R-Houston, held two vice chairmanships); now there are none.

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A list of the Speaker's favorites, by committee:

Committee: Chairman; Vice Chairman. (Names in italics indicate new assignments)

Agriculture & Livestock: Sid Miller, R-Stephenville; Charles "Doc" Anderson, R-Waco.

Appropriations: Warren Chisum, R-Pampa; Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City.

Border & International Affairs: Tracy O. King, D-Batesville; Stephen Frost, D-Atlanta.

Business & Industry: Helen Giddings, D-Dallas; Gary Elkins, R-Houston.

Calendars: Beverly Woolley, R-Houston; Norma Chavez, D-El Paso.

Civil Practices: Byron C. Cook, R-Corsicana; Mark Strama, D-Austin.

Corrections: Jerry Madden, R-Richardson; Scott Hochberg, D-Houston.

County Affairs: Wayne Smith, R-Baytown; Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin.

Criminal Jurisprudence: Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg; Allen Vaught, D-Dallas.

Culture, Recreation & Tourism: Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville; Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin.

Defense Affairs & State-Federal Relations : Frank Corte Jr., R-San Antonio; Juan Escobar, D-Kingsville.

Economic Development: Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont; Joe Straus, R-San Antonio.

Elections : Leo Berman, R-Tyler; Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston.

Energy Resources: Rick Hardcastle, R-Vernon; David Farabee, D-Wichita Falls.

Environmental Regulation : Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton; Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills.

Financial Institutions: Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton; Dan Flynn, R-Van.

General Investing & Ethics: Larry Phillips, R-Sherman; Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe.

Government Reform: Bill Callegari, R-Katy; Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie.

Higher Education: Geanie Morrison, R-Victoria; Brian McCall, R-Plano.

House Administration: Tony Goolsby, R-Dallas; Helen Giddings, D-Dallas.

Human Services: Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs; Susan King, R-Abilene.

Insurance: John Smithee, R-Amarillo; Todd Smith, R-Euless.

Judiciary: Will Hartnett, R-Dallas; Mark Homer, D-Paris.

Juvenile Justice & Family Issues: Harold Dutton Jr., D-Houston; Craig Eiland, D-Galveston.

Land & Resource Management : Anna Mowery, R-Fort Worth; Rob Orr, R-Burleson.

Law Enforcement: Joe Driver, R-Garland; Thomas Latham, R-Sunnyvale.

Licensing & Administrative Procedures: Ismael "Kino" Flores, D-Palmview; Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth.

Local & Consent Calendars : Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land; Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston.

Local Government Ways & Means: Fred Hill, R-Richardson; Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe.

Natural Resources: Robert Puente, D-San Antonio; Mike Hamilton, R-Mauriceville.

Pensions & Investments: Vicki Truitt, R-Keller; Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio.

Public Education: Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands; Bill Zedler, R-Arlington.

Public Health: Diane White Delisi, R-Temple; Jodie Laubenberg, R-Parker.

Redistricting: Joe Crabb, R-Atascocita; Betty Brown, R-Terrell.

Regulated Industries: Phil King, R-Weatherford; Wayne Christian, R-Center.

Rules & Resolutions: Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio; Nathan Macias, R-Bulverde.

State Affairs: David Swinford, R-Dumas; Ken Paxton, R-McKinney.

Transportation: Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock; Larry Phillips, R-Sherman.

Urban Affairs: Kevin Bailey, D-Houston; Jim Murphy, R-Houston.

Ways & Means: Jim Keffer, R-Eastland; Allan Ritter, D-Nederland.

One of the state's much admired and original voices has gone silent. The official obituary follows:

Syndicated political columnist Molly Ivins died of breast cancer at her home in Austin, TX, at 5:24 pm Wednesday, January 31. She was 62 years old, and had much, much more to give this world.

She remained cheerful despite Texas politics. She emphasized the more hilarious aspects of both state and national government, and consequently never had to write fiction. She said, "Good thing we've still got politics—finest form of free entertainment ever invented." Molly had a large family, many namesakes, hundreds of close friends, thousands of colleagues and hundreds of thousands of readers.

She and her two siblings, Sara (Ivins) Maley of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Andy Ivins of London, Texas, grew up in Houston. Her father, James Ivins, was a corporate lawyer and a Republican, which meant she always had someone to disagree with over the dinner table. Her mother, Margot, was a homemaker with a B.A. in psychology from Smith College.

In addition to her brother and sister, Molly is survived by sister-in-law Carla Ivins, nephew Drew and niece Darby; niece Margot Hutchison and her husband, Neil, and their children Sam, Andy and Charlie of San Diego, Calif. and nephew Paul Maley and his wife, Karianna, and their children Marty, Anneli and Finnbar of Eltham, Victoria, Australia.

Molly followed her mother to Smith and received a B.A. in 1966, followed by an M.A. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an honorary doctorate from Haverford College.

Her full list of books and awards will be abbreviated here. In addition to compilations of her brilliant, hilarious liberal columns, she wrote with Lou Dubose Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush (Random House 2000) and Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America (Random House 2003). She was working on a Random House book documenting the Bush administration's assault on the Bill of Rights when she died.

Molly, being practical, used many of her most prestigious awards as trivets while serving exquisite French dishes at her dinner parties. Her awards include the William Allen White Award from the University of Kansas, the Eugene V. Debs award in the field of journalism, many awards for advocacy of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the David Nyhan Prize from the Shorenstein Center at the Kennedy School at Harvard.

Although short, Molly's life was writ large. She was as eloquent a speaker and teacher as she was a writer, and her quips will last at least as long as Will Rogers'. She dubbed George W. Bush "Shrub" and Texas Governor Rick Perry "Good Hair."

Molly always said in her official resume that the two honors she valued the most were (1) when Minneapolis Police Department named their mascot pig after her (She was covering the police beat at the time.) and (2) when she was banned from speaking on the Texas A&M University campus at least once during her years as co-editor of The Texas Observer (1970-76). However, she said with great sincerity that she would be proudest of all to die sober, and she did.

She worked as a reporter for The New York Times (1976-82) in New York and Albany and later as Rocky Mountain Bureau Chief covering nine mountain states by herself. After working for the staid Times where she was heavily edited, Molly cut loose and became a columnist for the Dallas Times Herald. When the Herald folded, she signed on as a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. In 2001, she became syndicated, eventually appearing in 400 newspapers.

She never lost her love for The Texas Observer or her conviction that a free society relies on public-interest journalism. She found that brand of journalism is the most fun.

In recent years she shamelessly used her national and international contacts to raise funds for the Observer, which has always survived on a shoestring. More than $400,000 was contributed to the feisty little journal at a roast honoring Molly in Austin October 8.

Molly's enduring message is, "Raise more hell."

To read more about Molly Ivins or to make a comment about her, go to www.texasobserver.org. Tax-deductible contributions in her honor may be made to The Texas Observer, 307 West Seventh Street, Austin, TX 78701 or the American Civil Liberties Union, 127 Broad Street, 18th floor, New York, NY 10004, www.aclu.org.

A memorial service will be held at Austin's First Methodist Church, 1201 Lavaca, at 2:00 pm Sunday, February 4. A reception, to be held at Scholtz Garden, 1607 San Jacinto, will follow the memorial service.

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And our unofficial remembrance: In the Austin bureau of the late Dallas Times Herald, a rule was handed down from reporter to reporter, from bureau chief to bureau chief. It was spoken at least twice in front of Ivins herself. "If you have come into some off-the-record gem and could lose a source by telling the story over beers with other reporters, don't tell it in front of Molly. She'll use it." You could read that as a slap, but you'd be a lousy analyst. Ivins was all about the stories and if the source was prominent, all the more reason to let fly. She had the idea that it would be cool if readers could hear the stories journalists tell after they leave the office and sit down with other journalists for beers and tales. And she knew that the stuff journalists didn't write was often better than what got into print. Also, she wouldn't be the one breaking the "off-record" promise. She weaved high and low culture in her writing and in person, recommending a couple of books that made you feel like a sinking graduate student and then telling a joke or trying out a line that would make you spit your Cheerios across the kitchen. She gave a simple wedding present to friends: Point out the most irritating relative or guest at the wedding — someone most unwanted who had to be invited — and she'd keep them busy for entire reception. The stinkers had a good time. Molly got new stories, an invite, and a pass on buying a gift. Couples got a present they'd remember instead of a plate. She was known for those two voices everybody talks about — the one trained at Smith College and the one trained in bars and beer gardens. But the third voice was the one really familiar to friends and acquaintances and readers. It's the considerate and compassionate voice, the one digging for the roots of things. It was funny, because humor is a good tool for that kind of work. She really did care about life and politics and people and all that and wasn't just saying so. It was important to her, and because that was so clear, it was important to her readers.

Harris County Judge Robert Eckels is reportedly thinking about moving out of the public sector — for now — and into the private sector, a move that would make a statewide run in 2008 possible. If he wants to do that. One rumor has the former state lawmaker joining the Bracewell Giuliani law firm.

Ann Fuelberg got the Bob Bullock Award from the Government Technology Conference for her work as executive director of the Employee Retirement System of Texas. Bonus: She was a deputy comptroller when Bullock was comptroller.

Janna Burleson will head the newly created Texas Criminal Justice Statistical Analysis Center created by an executive order of Gov. Rick Perry. That'll be a clearinghouse for data on prison and other criminal justice issues, similar to an agency whacked in budget cuts four years ago. The Criminal Justice Policy Council died when Perry excised it from the state budget, saying its functions could be "transferred to other entities by executive order."

A newly appointed panel will try where other state efforts have failed, looking for ways to improve management and mission at Texas Southern University. The governor appointed former state Rep. Glenn Lewis, D-Fort Worth, to chair a panel with these members:  Gary Bledsoe, Dr. Raymund Paredes, and Richard Salwen of Austin; Richard Knight Jr. of Dallas; and Judge Zinetta Burney, Larry Faulkner, Anthony Hall Jr., Howard Jefferson, Cynthia Spooner, and Albert Myres, all from Houston.

Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, will have a third term as chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, is the new vice chair. And the Democrats reelected Reps. Terri Hodge of Dallas and Veronica Gonzales of McAllen as treasurer and secretary, respectively.

And Allison Castle rejoins Ross Communications after stints with former Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and, most recently, with the Texas Credit Union League.