Put us in the minority on this one, but it looks like Carole Keeton Strayhorn might have drummed up enough free coverage on TV and in the papers and on radio talk shows to connect her old "One Tough Grandma" slogan to her newish moniker.Strayhorn dropped her lawsuit to get "Grandma" inserted on the ballot as her nickname. But the fight to that point got a ton of coverage, giving everybody the opportunity to connect the new name with the better-known slogan. You can find lots of folks — particularly in the sealed political terrarium of Austin — who'll tell you she looked silly in pursuit of the nickname and that nobody bought it. That'll be apparent, one way or another, when the campaigns are over in 100 days or so. Strayhorn and her political advisors have said all along that her numbers "go up ten points" when "Grandma" is included in the mix. Their best outcome would have been getting the name on the ballot. But they've been careful to roll out every twist and turn in the story for maximum coverage, and that's the second best outcome they settled for. Strayhorn dropped the name hunt when a judge in Austin said jurisdiction belonged with another court. Rather than keep it up, Strayhorn — most recently elected with the last name Rylander — announced she'll move on down the road.

Check off the box next to Vilma Luna's name — rumors, reported here and elsewhere, that she was signing with Hillco Partners turned out to be true. She and her family are moving to Austin and she'll be working with Buddy Jones, Bill Miller, et al before Labor Day. Luna's last day in the Texas House was July 31; the Corpus Christi Democrat — a key member of Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick's leadership team — first took office in 1993.

Did schools or teachers help students cheat on standardized tests? That's the question for a special panel appointed by Texas Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley. She wants five people to look at "alleged testing anomalies." They are: Dallas education consultant Carol Francois, a former associate commissioner at TEA; Texas Association of Business CEO Bill Hammond; Sylvia Hatton of Edinburg, executive director of the Education Service Center there; George McShan of Harlingen, a retired dean at Texas State Technical College and former president of the Texas Association of School Boards and The National School Boards Association; and A.J. Rodriguez, chairman of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Olga Garza of Austin, a consultant and former school board member there, will by the coordinator for what's officially called the Commissioner's Task Force on Test Security.

Mark Borskey is leaving the governor's office, where he worked as a legislative liaison, for the lobby, where he'll do the same kind of work for private-sector clients. He'll do some work on his own, and some in cahoots with Ron Lewis and Patricia Shipton. He'll remain a government guy until the end of this month. That leaves the legislative shop empty; Victoria Ford, as we've mentioned before, is also going to the private sector lobby. Most rumors for the last several months have had Sen. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, moving over to run that office (he's not seeking reelection), but no hires have been announced.

Rena Pederson, the former editorial page editor at The Dallas Morning News, is going to work for Karen Hughes in the Bush Administration. Hughes works on "public diplomacy" in the State Department; according to that agency's website, she has been "tasked by President Bush with leading efforts to promote America's values and confront ideological support for terrorism around the world."

Blake Hawthorne is the new clerk for the Texas Supreme Court. He's been a staff attorney there and a former assistant attorney general. He'll replace Andrew Weber, who left after four years in the post to return to his private law practice.

Kerri Davidson is leaving the Pink Building, where she's worked for ten years for Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin, for the Texas Youth Commission. She'll be the new chief of staff there.

Ron Urbanovsky, who ran the crime lab for the Texas Department of Public Safety, retired after 37 years at that agency and plans to raise cows. Pat Johnson, who was field laboratories manager, will replace him at the crime lab.

Joel McKinney, currently a DPS captain in Garland, is getting a promotion to major and will be the new head cop at the Texas Capitol. Major Morris Arnold, who had that job until now, will be the commander in Region 4, which in English means he's going home to West Texas.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst appointed Barkley Stuart, an exec with Glazer's Distributors in Dallas, to the board of the Texas Building and Procurement Commission. Glazer's is a liquor and wine distributor; Stuart's the executive veep and COO there.

Indicted: Priscilla Slade, former president of Texas Southern University, and three other formal officials, on charges related to using university money for Slade's private benefit. Quintin Wiggins, the former CFO, Bruce Wilson, the former Senior VP for Administration, and Frederick Holts, a senior safety system engineer, were also named.

Recovering: Mina Brees, a Democrat running for the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin, after a heart attack at home and surgery that followed that. She's challenging Judge David Puryear.