Official results from the Texas Secretary of State: Democratic Party primary Republican Party primary

Bloggers are chronicling the continuing war over Democratic presidential delegates in Texas. They're also taking note of the impact of a certain Lake Jackson congressman at Republican conventions, runoffs for primary nominations and the hot seat recently occupied by the Texas House Speaker. And then, some miscellaneous posts.

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Donkey Doings

Barack Obama says he's won Texas; Hillary Clinton says maybe, maybe not, according to Postcards from the Lege, the Austin American-Statesman's blog. The numbers from Burnt Orange Report support Obama, but as Half-Empty muses, "The fat lady, however, doesn’t sing until the state convention this June. That’s the rule here in wild and woolly Texas. It’s not who you vote for, but who shows up... "

Those words rang true in Harris County's SD-6, where Obama no-shows swung the delegate total in favor of Clinton, according to Texas Observer Blog. They say the count was more proportional for Obama in Bexar County, but the convention was just as chaotic. Observer also says it was crazy in Tarrant County: here and here.

KVUE's Political Junkie live-blogged the Travis County convention, and Observer's take is here.

Postcards has the results from Hays County's convention, which earlier had "teetered on the verge of anarchy." Meanwhile, state Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, characterizes the event in Hidalgo County as "lengthy, historic and sometimes chaotic," in his A Capitol Blog. And Half-Empty says confusion reigned supreme in Fort Bend County, while a couple of commenters on Texas Kaos report on Kaufman and Wise Counties (once you're there, scroll down to the bottom of the page.)

Obama took off his shoe and crushed Clinton in Dallas's SD-16 and SD-23 conventions (and also in SD-2), reports Trail Blazers, the Dallas Morning News's blog. And Dos Centavos reports that Harris County's SD-14 event went "Smooooooth," while musings says many rules were broken during Fort Bend County's SD-17 convention. Also here.

Political Junkie turns her blog into a lonely hearts forum for Democrats who found amore at the conventions — then lost it. And Burnt Orange has an item on state "superdelegates."

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Republican r3VOLution

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's blog PoliTex predicted partially cloudy skies with a strong possibility of Ron Paul supporters at GOP conventions. They were correct.

Party officials in SD-12 brokered a pre-convention peace treaty, ensuring that a significant number of delegates to the state convention will be flying the Paulistinian flag, PoliTex says. Folks in SD-10 didn't get the memo — latest word from PoliTex was they were still fighting it out. And Paul's r3VOLutionaries hijacked Travis County's SD-25 convention, but didn't muster quite enough support to take over SD-14, says Postcards.

Things were "relatively ho-hum" in Sugar Land's SD-17, says Texas Safety Forum. The most interesting development was the announcement by Austin Furse to run for state Sen. Kyle Janek's soon-to-be open seat. Here's more info from the county seat.

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Runoff Roundup

BurkaBlog analyzes the five GOP state House runoffs on April 8. Eye on Williamson takes a look at the GOP's HD-52, saying Bryan Daniel has more money, while Dee Hobbs has that hometown appeal.

Observer writes a story on the two Democrats still standing in the race for Railroad Commission. And Trail Blazers — paralleling our own covereage — says the GOP's HD-112 race has been so nasty that James Leininger is withdrawing his support for Randall Dunning. (Leinenger didn't say, however, that he's now backing opponent Angie Chen Button.)

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Gone Fishin'

Political Junkie scoped out TomCraddick's deposition for a lawsuit regarding an alleged "threaten" letter to a travel company. She has a screenshot here that is prime for opponent's campaign mailers. The raw, uncut footage is here. And commentary is here, here and here. Trail Blazers' take is here.

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Farrago

Rick Perry for Governor, in 2010? BurkaBlog moans.

Remember Mauricio Celis? TexParte Blog does.

Congratulations to il Duce Ross Ramsey for officially joining the M$M! via Burnt Orange.

An analysis of the pole tax smackdown, by Chronic, the Austin Chronicle's blog.

More maps of presidential primary results, by Greg's Opinion, here, here and here.

A take on the Bexar County needle exchange fight, by Grits for Breakfast.

Mike Falick's Blog won an award.

Cross-tabs of primary results by state representative district, from Off the Kuff.

An interview with Dwight Fullingim, a Democrat running for Congress in District 19, by Texas Blue.

Bloggers love... John Cornyn?

Videos from the U.S. Senate race, via Texas Politics, the Houston Chronicle's blog.

A money fight in an El Paso state House race, from Vaqueros & Wonkeros, the El Paso Times's blog.

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This edition of Out There was compiled and written by Patrick Brendel, who hails from Victoria but is spending the spring in the mid-Atlantic region. We cherry-pick the state's political blogs each week, looking for news, info, gossip, and new jokes. The opinions here belong (mostly) to the bloggers, and we're including their links so you can hunt them down if you wish. Our blogroll — the list of Texas blogs we watch — is on our links page, and if you know of a Texas political blog that ought to be on it, just shoot us a note. Please send comments, suggestions, gripes or retorts to Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey.

Things you'll find on the final page of the Macias lawsuit: A former judge's email address, and a House staffer.

We take you now to Runoff Land, where a handful of candidates are still smacking each other for a chance at their party's nomination.

• Fred Roberts is after Ken Legler for using his Social Security number in a mailer. The Legler gang says it was a mistake, but Roberts says he's filing criminal complaints and civil suits as a result. He says it'll lead to identity theft. The risk in bringing it up: Roberts is bringing attention to Legler's mailer, which attacked him for unsettled federal tax debts. That's a GOP runoff, in HD-144. Late money for Roberts came from the Texas Parent PAC, $10,000. Legler got runoff help from Houston builder Bob Perry, $25,000; Beer distributor John Nau III, $10,000; Dallas billionaire Robert Rowling, $10,000; and Empower Texans PAC, $6,901.

• Ralph Sheffield, with third-party help, took a swing at Martha Tyroch for her spending during a Washington, D.C., trip she took while on the Temple City Council. The details: She upgraded to a $450 per night room at the Mayflower Hotel and had a $30, seven-block cab fare on her expense report. The allegations didn't come from the Sheffield camp, but from Austin-based Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. The two Republicans are in a runoff in HD-55. The only late money in that race was a $10,000 check to Sheffield from Dr. James Leininger of San Antonio, who's also one of the biggest backers of TFR. Tyroch's biggest helpers are the Texas Association of Realtors PAC, which gave $33,541 since the primary election.

• Tryon Lewis hasn't been able to get a debate scheduled with Rep. Buddy West in HD-81. "We have a number of differences," says Lewis, a former district judge currently in private practice as an attorney in Odessa. "Mainly public education, the gross margins tax and immigration." Lewis says his opponent voted for the 2006 gross margin tax (which pays for cuts in school property taxes). He thinks it should be "eliminated or strongly changed." He hasn't proposed an alternative. Lewis isn't a fan of the TAKS test, but says West sponsors it. He also criticizes his opponent's position on giving drivers licenses and in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. He says he hasn't attacked anything about West but his voting record. We called West — he's not available for interviews, according to aides. Jesse Gore and Randy Rives — the other two primary candidates – are backing West. Notable: West's post-primary contributors include a half-dozen of his House colleagues: Byron Cook, $500; Delwin Jones, $1,000; Edmund Kuempel, $2,000; Tommy Merritt, $1,000; Jim Pitts, $10,000; and Allan Ritter, $2,500.

• The HD-112 race — a remarkably hard-fought race to succeed Fred Hill in the House — has a mess of interesting money floating around. Since the primaries cut the field from three to two, Angie Button got money from Sen. John Carona, $5,000; Texas Instruments Chairman Thomas Engibous, $10,000; Hyperion CEO Albert Huddleston, $5,000; Diodes Inc. CEO Keh-Shew Lu, $10,000; former Texas Republican Party Chair Fred Meyer, $2,500; and finally, a $150,000 loan from the candidate herself, bringing her total loan balance to $310,000. Randy Dunning's purse isn't as large. He got $5,000 from Bob Perry, $10,000 from the Texas Home School Coalition PAC, and $7,569 from Empower Texans PAC (which makes in-kind expenditures instead of giving money).

• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed Pete Olson over Shelley Sekula Gibbs in the CD-22 runoff.

• The Houston Chronicle, following its sister paper in San Antonio, is dropping distribution in Austin and other spots outside of the main service area. Both papers are owned by the Hearst Corp. By this time next week, neither will be available in racks in the state capital nor for home delivery. Get thee to the Internet; both are free online, at chron.com and at mysanantonio.com.

With less than a week to go, the candidates in HD-52 are finally arguing about something.

Both Dee Hobbs and Bryan Daniel have capitalized on their positive, clean campaigning. They debate the issues, shake hands and make jokes. But on Mar. 25, Daniel sent out a mail piece showing the Texas State Rifle Association's rating of the candidates — "A" for Daniel and "hostile toward 2nd Amendment issues" for Hobbs. Then, Hobbs responded with an e-mail defending what he said was an A rating for himself, too. A letter from TSRA dated Mar. 19 proves that. Wait, there's more. On the 27th, Daniel sent out another mail piece with a side-by-side comparison of the candidates on issues and endorsements. It mainly shows how Daniel's got big conservative PACs — like Texas Right to Life and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility — on his side and Hobbs doesn't. It also repeats TSRA grade of "hostile." So, Hobbs sent another retort.

Alice Tripp, the legislative director for TSRA PAC, says the NRA mails the candidate questionnaire in January to every state candidate and asks for it to be returned to TSRA Feb. 4.

"Daniel and 99.9 percent of the other candidates got it in immediately," Tripp says. "That cutoff date is to build a sense of urgency."

Tripp says she wanted to get the info on the Web site by Feb. 19, on the 14, she noticed the one from Hobbs was missing. Apparently, he was the only Republican that hadn't returned the questionnaire. She couldn't get a hold of him, so she had to give him a rating of "?" which on their legend equals "should be considered hostile to 2nd Amendment issues."

"I didn't assign him that title," Tripp says. "He took it on himself."

Hobbs and Tripp e-mailed some and eventually, he got the questionnaire in on the 19. The same day, Tripp sent Hobbs a letter saying his answers gave him an "A" rating. But, she didn't change the voter's guide on the TSRA PAC site right away. She didn't change it until the early morning hours of the 28th — there's a footnote explaining Hobbs' tardiness there, too.

Daniel says when he sent both mail pieces, the voter's guide still showed "?" next to Hobbs. Anyone could find that info by checking the site. He checked it again after sending the mail pieces on the 27th and found an "A" next to his opponent's name and says he called the post office and tried to stop it. Too late.

So what does Hobbs have to say about all this? He says his questionnaire didn't come on time and as soon as he got it, he sent it in. That would be just before Mar. 19.

"His mail piece makes people think I'm hostile to every Republican issue out there," Hobbs says. "You start talking to Texans about taking their guns away and they're going to ask questions. Even people who don't have guns will fight for the right for their neighbor to have one."

Daniel says he doesn't think the conflict will be beneficial or harmful for either candidate — and he's frustrated that the site changed before voters received his mail piece.

"I'm in an unenviable position," he says. "Some voters think he just submitted the questionnaire for political gain, others think that he's hiding something, but that's not for me to decide. I didn't make a personal judgment here."

— by Karie Meltzer

Keel v. Fero... (Alleged) high-living officeholders... Back to court for a controversial workers' comp case... Tax watchers... and a new CFO at TRS

House Parliamentarian Terry Keel filed a criminal complaint against political consultant Kelly Fero. At issue: An online posting accusing Keel of helping Democrat Mindy Montford in the runoff for Travis County District Attorney. Keel says the website that posted that belongs to Fero, who's on Rosemary Lehmberg's campaign payroll and who — in Keel's view — was "laundering" news he could then use to boost Lehmberg's chances against Montford in next week's election. The posting quotes Keel talking to an unnamed group and saying Montford's race was more important to him at the moment than a House race where his sister-in-law is challenging an incumbent Democrat. He says, in an affidavit attached to his complaint, that the report is false and that he didn't attend a meeting or say those things.

Fero's lawyer, Buck Wood of Austin, called the complaint frivolous and said the statements on the blog weren't — in legal terms — campaign communications. There's no violation of state election laws, he said. "You can say anything you want on your blog. This is not an ad." And he suggested Keel wouldn't have filed a complaint if the election wasn't coming up next week. "This all about Tuesday," Wood said.

Fero called Keel "one of Travis County's most litigious Republicans," and pooh-poohed the complaint. "Terry Keel carries his law license like a bludgeon, whether he's trying to bully a judicial opponent off the ballot or punish a Democrat who caught him trying to effect a Democratic runoff," Fero said.

• Ralph Sheffield redoubled his last-minute hit on Martha Tyroch in HD-55, producing a former city employee to back his charges of "lavish spending" at taxpayer expense. Michelle Garcia, quoted in an email from Sheffield, accused Tyroch of misusing a city credit card while a member of the city council and said she regularly upgraded air and hotel reservations made by Garcia for city business. Sheffield and Tyroch are in a runoff on Tuesday.

• The Texas Supreme Court will rehear Entergy v. Summers, a case that prompted an outcry from labor and other interests when the court decided it last year. It's a workers' compensation case that turns on whether a company can avoid premise liability by labeling itself a general contractor. A worker hurt on Entergy property sued but was tossed because the company was acting as a general contractor, and paying workers' compensation premiums. The court didn't set a date for the rehearing.

• There's a new business margins tax in effect and with it, a new committee to watch. Comptroller Susan Combs will chair the new Business Tax Advisory Committee. Four lawmakers are on board: Sens. Steve Ogden and Kirk Watson, and Reps. Warren Chisum and Myra Crownover. They'll be joined by a couple of non-government tax wizards: Dale Craymer of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, and Donna Rutter, a CPA. And by "taxpayer members," listed here with the industry they're representing: David Gilliland, Joe Mack Hilliard,and Mike Luther, services; Dan Hagan, transportation; Lynn Chilton, finance; Judy Lindquist, retail; Judy Kilgore, construction; A.J. Brune III, oil and gas; Gary Trudgeon and Emily Parrino, manufacturing; David White, communications; Sharon Aston, utilities; Eric Donaldson, trucking; and Andy Ellard, manufacturing.

• Ken Welch is leaving the Health and Human Services Commission this month to be the new chief financial officer for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. He headed fiscal management at the comptroller's office before that.