The two major parties are taking applications and money from candidates who want to be on the 2008 ballot. And they're updating their lists of people who've signed up, at the state and local levels. Here are the links to those lists: Republican Party of Texas candidate filings
Texas Democratic Party candidate filings Filing continues through January 2, and then the parties turn things over to the Texas Secretary of State, who runs the March 4 elections. Other parties — Libertarians and Greens — select their candidates later in the year without primary elections, and they'll be added to the general election ballot once they've got their lists together. And then there are the counties. Candidates filing for state office in districts that don't cross county lines don't file with the state parties, but with their own counties Democrats and Republicans. Some of their websites have candidate filing lists, and some don't. Here's a partial list of the county party sites (not all have them, and many appear to be dormant) where House or Senate candidates file locally:

Dallas Republicans
Dallas Democrats

Harris Republicans
Harris Democrats

Bexar Republicans
Bexar Democrats

El Paso Republicans
El Paso Democrats

Tarrant Republicans
Tarrant Democrats

Travis Republicans
Travis Democrats

Bell Republicans
Bell Democrats

Brazoria Republicans
Brazoria Democrats

Brazos Republicans
Brazos Democrats

Collin Republicans
Collin Democrats

Denton Republicans
Denton Democrats

Fort Bend Republicans
Fort Bend Democrats

Galveston Republicans
Galveston Democrats

Hidalgo Republicans
Hidalgo Democrats

Jefferson Republicans
Jefferson Democrats

Lubbock Republicans
Lubbock Democrats

McLennan Republicans
McLennan Democrats

Montgomery Republicans
Montgomery Democrats

Nueces Republicans
Nueces Democrats

Smith Democrats

Williamson Republicans
Williamson Democrats

From Reps. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, and Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, who asked for Abbott's opinion last June:

"In football terms, the Attorney General's advisory opinion has punted this issue to the courts and has fumbled in its attempted summary. Craddick is elected from his Midland district which is only 1/150th of the people of Texas.

"Based on this, we strongly disagree with the unprecedented contention that the office of Speaker is a statewide officer. Furthermore, it is unprecedented to contend that the House Speaker is subject to removal by a vote of the Texas Senate. Sadly, the Attorney General's advisory opinion only reaffirms the adage: 'Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' Tom Craddick's declaration of 'absolute authority' is an abuse of power and undermines the basic premise of democracy in Texas government.

"We firmly believe Craddick's application of 'absolute authority' has violated constitutional rights of members of the legislature and the constituents they serve. We firmly believe our state constitution did not create the Texas House Speaker post as a dictatorial position. It is our understanding of the state constitution that the Speaker is a legislative post constructed to serve the members of the Texas House of Representatives as a presiding officer over its operation.

"Because of the Attorney General's own admission of a lack of clarity by past Court cases, it now appears that the integrity of Texas Government is still at a critical crossroads. Enough is enough. The people of Texas need to let their local representatives know that they've had enough of Tom Craddick's one-man dictatorship."

From Alexis DeLee, spokeswoman for House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland:

"The speaker welcomes the attorney general's opinion and his acknowledgement that the rules of the House, as well as the interpretation of those rules, are matters to be determined solely by the members of the House. The attorney general's opinion affirms the speaker's position on all issues, including that the speaker is an officer of the state, who serves a two-year term of office.

"Now that the attorney general has rendered his opinion, the speaker looks forward to continuing to work with legislators on the important business of the state."

From Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie: "I am glad to see the Attorney General agrees that there is no clear statutory or constitutional prohibition against removing a Speaker by means other than impeachment, and that the Speaker's authority to recognize a member is not absolute. Rather, this is a matter to be appropriately decided by the members of the House of Representatives. "I respect the Attorney General's decision to leave the business of interpreting legislative rules of procedure to the Legislative branch, and in this case, the House of Representatives. Many of the issues raised last session remain valid. It is up to the members of the Texas House to decide how the election and removal of a Speaker should be handled, and I feel confident we will find a consensus on these issues next session." From Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, head of the House Democratic Caucus:: "No one should be surprised by Greg Abbott's ruling. From the start, many other Texans and I expressed concern that the financial ties between Abbott and Craddick raise serious doubts about the fairness and independence of the opinion process. They are wed at the hip by the same donors, and the public record makes that clear (according to the Ethics Commission, they have taken more than $13.6 million in combined contributions from sources that gave $2,500 or more to each man). Unfortunately, Texas’ current Republican leadership puts allegiance to one another over the fundamentals of democracy. The result is what anyone would expect from the legacy of Tom DeLay politics. "Beneath the tortured legal reasoning is this fundamental fact: Greg Abbott threw a lifeline to his ally Tom Craddick. Craddick's lawyers concocted the notion that the Speaker serves a fixed two-year term and the Speaker that House members elect cannot be removed without Senate permission—what a joke. Now, his political partner Greg Abbott has backed up that ridiculous claim. They hope this AG Opinion will prevent any honest debate of the dictatorial and undemocratic methods we have come to expect. In that hope, they are wrong. "No person with a common sense understanding of the fundamentals in our country, much less a trained lawyer, can condone Abbott’s opinion that Craddick should have the absolute power of a Tito, Mussolini or Stalin. If Greg Abbott really believes that, then we need a new Attorney General. "Tom Craddick’s refusal to let members vote on his removal was the ultimate in political cowardice. Abbott's silence regarding Craddick's refusal to recognize members for that debate shows an equal lack of spine. As many work to ensure the rights of free men and women are available around the world, and as Texans are fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan right now for those rights, it is regrettable that those same rights are absent in the Texas House, and that Greg Abbott condones that. "The ruling means one thing: Texans must vote for representatives who will elect new leadership for the Texas House in January 2009." From Republican Reps. Geanie Morrison of Victoria, Dan Flynn of Van, Phil King of Weatherford, Jim Murphy of Houston, Diane Patrick of Arlington, David Swinford of Dumas, and John Zerwas of Houston: "The attorney general's opinion is a strong confirmation that the speaker respected the constitution and the rules, and that a speaker's contest should end, not begin, on the first day of session. During the 140 days legislators are in Austin, the focus must be on addressing the business of the people and not political agendas. While we support a member's right to inquire about the rules and the democratic process spelled out in the constitution, with this opinion now issued we hope our most vigorous debates will be focused on the matters that most directly impact Texans, such as border security, property rights, education reform and fiscal discipline."

Heather Paffe is leaving her lobbying post at Planned Parenthood after almost six years there to run the Gulf Coast Oceans Program for Environmental Defense. She'll be based in Austin.

Former Deputy Texas Comptroller Jesse Ancira moves this month to DeCharme, McMillen & Associates, where he'll do business development, some tax work, and some lobbying.

Courtney Read Hoffman is hanging out her own shingle after four years with Eric Wright and Associates. Some of her clients came along to the new shop: CRH Capitol Communications.

Tom Harrison, the former executive director of the Texas Ethics Commission, is now its chairman. The board elected him last month, and named Ross Fischer vice chairman.

Mike McMullen becomes a lobbyist with the Texas Chemical Council, leaving Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, where he had a number of postings. Janek's replacing him with a veteran of the Pink Building: Kelly Young will be the new director of the Subcommittee on Emerging Technologies and Economic Development.

Cory Pomeroy moves from staff attorney for the Senate State Affairs Committee to General Council for Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock. And Jennifer Fagan becomes director of that committee, as well as its general counsel. Two more changes there: Sarah Hamm, who's been working for an Austin law firm, joins Duncan as a natural resources wiz (Brandon Lipps left to return to Texas Tech law school), and Pam Dutton is leaving Duncan's San Angelo office after four years later this month.

Gov. Rick Perry ended 2007 with a slew of appointments, naming:

• Larry Kellner of Houston and Sandy Kress of Austin to the Select Committee on Public School Accountability, where they'll wait for the speaker and the lieutenant governor to fill out the panel. Kellner is chairman and CEO of Continental Airlines. Kress is a lawyer with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld with a history of involvement in education issues.

• Richard Nedelkoff as the new conservator of the Texas Youth Commission. Nedelkoff was most recently the COO for a Florida non-profit running residential and community programs for at-risk kids in ten states.

• Don Ballard of Austin to head the Office of Public Utility Counsel, which represents consumers in state and federal utility cases. He's general counsel to the Texas Workforce Commission now, and he'll replace Suzi Ray McClellan, who was first named to the job in 1995 by then-Gov. George W. Bush.

• Patricia Kerrigan of Houston to the 190th Judicial District Court, where she'll replace Judge Jennifer Elrod, who is now on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Kerrigan has been a partner at Werner and Kerrigan. She's running for the rest of the term, and will face two others in the GOP primary.

• William Boyce and Jeffrey Brown of Houston to the state's 14th Court of Appeals. Boyce was a partner with Fulbright & Jaworski. Brown has been judge of the 55th District Court in Harris County. Both will be on the ballot; neither drew a primary opponent. Jeffrey Shadwick, an attorney with Andrews Myers Coulter and Cohen, was Perry's pick for the 55th District Court post. He's got two primary opponents in March.

• Don Minton as judge of the El Paso Criminal Judicial Court No. 1. Minton is a child support judge for El Paso, Hudspeth, and Culberson counties.

Recovering: Texas Eagle Forum chief Cathie Adams, after cracking a rib and her back in a holiday automobile accident.

Deaths: Ric Williamson, the obstreperous, smart, innovative former legislator who led Gov. Rick Perry's effort to rework the state's transportation infrastructure, apparently from a heart attack. He was 55. Williamson, who served in the Texas House for 14 years, was most recently the head of the Texas Transportation Commission, single-mindedly and aggressively pushing a massive expansion and rehabilitation of the state's roads. He was both controversial and effective, and was entering his final months as chairman of the commission. Williamson, who specialized in the state budget when he was a legislator, earned the nickname "Nitro" when he was in the House, a perfect description of a guy who was both useful and volatile.

Craig Foster, a leading advocate for equal funding of public schools around the state and the founder of The Equity Center, an organization of low-wealth school districts that has been pursuing that notion for years, from cancer. Foster was executive director there for 18 years, then an advisor for another six. He was 69.

Candidates don't officially report their finances until mid-month, but U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega, a Democrat, says he raised about $968,000 during the fourth quarter of last year. Details will follow later in the month. Noriega's one of four Democrats seeking to challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-San Antonio.

• Larry Joe Doherty, an Austin Democrat seeking the CD-10 nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, says he raised more than $150,000 during the fourth quarter of the year, enough to put his total so far at about $380,000.

• Brian Thompson, who's challenging state Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, in HD-46, says he raised $10,145 online since announcing last month. State candidates' reports are also due in mid-January, but they'll cover the last six months of the year instead of the last three.