The state's highway department will follow existing roads, mostly, for I-69, and will try to do that on other pieces of the governor's Trans Texas Corridor.The official announcement is set for tomorrow, but the agency briefed some lawmakers and others in the Capitol about the plans for I-69, saying it'll follow highways 77 and 281 in the Valley, 44 and 59 through the Coastal Bend and 59 and 84 in East Texas. That's assuming federal officials approve the plans submitted by the Texas Department of Transportation. This is a new tack for TXDOT, which has raised its profile and not a little ire with its highway planning and construction in the last few years. The Transportation Commission now wants to build roads, when possible, where roads already exist, and this is the first big project out of the chute. And they're apparently promising not to put tolls on lanes that now exist — just on new ones (it's not clear just how that would work). They told legislative folks that they'll announce the new plans in Lufkin, Victoria and Austin on Thursday.

The blogs are full of fire and Democratic politics, with news from the smoldering Governor's Mansion and the Texas Democratic convention, where delegates for Obama and Clinton started trying to stitch things back together for the fall fight against the GOP.

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Fire!

The fire that baked the Governor's Mansion overtook news from the Democrats. The Austinist has this report, relying on news from KXAN-TV. They've got video of the fire and related stuff at KVUE-TV's Political Junkie. The Burnt Orange folk have a posting on the fire, and the best pictures are on the Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau's blog (yeah, Washington) Texas on the Potomac. Look here and here.

You'll find speculation around the fire news, too. Look at this from Another War on Terror Blog. And browse through the comments on the Prison Planet Forum. Be careful out there.

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Making Up is Hard to Do

Former Land Commissioner Garry Mauro — head of Hillary Clinton's campaign in Texas — got himself interviewed by Texas Monthly's Evan Smith, posted on Smith's State of Mine blog. Mauro's reconciled himself to Clinton's loss, or is at least working on it: "I haven't voted for a Republican in my life and I'm not going to start now." But he also says if he was advising Barack Obama, he'd tell the candidate "he had no choice but to put Hillary Clinton on the ticket."

The Texas Observer Blog surveyed the scene and found some hurt feelings out there, waiting to be patched. That same piece offers a good rundown of the convention. McBlogger is ready to concede to the Obama folk, but wants some props, too. Half Empty has some words about the grumbling that's still under way. And South Texas Chisme wonders whether and how Obama will win the hearts of Latino voters.

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The Floor Show

The most comprehensive coverage of the Democrats — the blog that got down in the weeds and reported on the critters and bugs ignored elsewhere — probably can be found in the Burnt Orange Report. The ardent Democrats there posted and posted and posted and posted and posted and posted and... Heck, just go to the home page and start fishing. Chronic, the blog of the Austin Chronicle, also went nuts, nuts, nutz, nutss, nuts, etc., etc. And Texas Kaos had multiple posts; it's easier to hit their front page and start reading.

The blogs from the papers were busy too, with multiple post at Postcards (the Austin American-Statesman), Texas Politics (the blended San Antonio Houston Express News Chronicle), Vaqueros & Wonkeros (the El Paso Times), Politex (the Fort Worth Star-Telegram), and the Trail Blazers Blog (The Dallas Morning News).

Feel the need to see and hear convention stuff? The Democrats have a channel (we're confident the Republicans will do something like this a week from now) on YouTube. Knock yourself out.

While the Democrats were in mid-session, Hillary Clinton ended her run in Washington. Houtopia thought it was classy.

Dos Centavos, glad the damn thing is over, is ready to get on with the general election.

Late adds: We missed a mess of photos of things and people taken by meanrachel at the convention. Lookit here and here and here and here.

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Off the Main Floor

Over at Talk to Action, they've got a rundown of some of the religious talk from the state Democratic convention, and a shot at the media for its depictions of the "Texas Two-Step" used to pick national delegates for that party.

Rep. Aaron Peña, in A Capitol Blog, reports on the doings at the convention and reminds us that there are people out there who actually like to listen to fights over resolutions. So we don't have to, maybe.

Caucuses were packed this year, compared with previous Democratic conventions. Eye on Williamson has some caucus coverage here and here. The Panhandle Truth Squad had trouble finding its caucus, but saves the day with a new and useful rhyme for Amarillo. Go See For Yourself.

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Not Yet Committed

At the convention, former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell was auto-responding to the question of whether he'll run for Kyle Janek's seat in the state Senate: "I haven't decided, I haven't decided..." [Just landed? Bell's a Democrat. Janek's a Republican.] But the weekend ended with fresh speculation — you'll find an example in the Austin Political Report — that Bell's made up his mind and will get into that contest.

Burkablog takes David Van Os to task, saying the perennial candidate's attack on the Texas Democratic Party was off base. Van Os ran unsuccessfully — the only way he's ever run — against party Chairman Boyd Richie. Van Os' tack: The party shouldn't target it's money at competitive races but should spread it around and in particular should spend some of it on statewide races. That same blog came back a few days later with money on its mind, wondering if the Obama campaign will be active in Texas or will stick with more competitive turf.

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Random Acts of Bloggery

GregsOpinion takes on demographic sorting, tipping a hat to a new book — The Big Sort — and spinning a California tale into a Texas post.

South Texas Chisme is talking about prosecutions and freedom of the press in Victoria.

Tex Parte went to the parties. There's a joke there, but we can't find it.

Trail Blazers went shopping at the Texas Democratic convention. What a t-shirt!

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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.

Remember that challenge to the way the state GOP operates it conventions? A Harris County judge spiked it.Last week, a group of Republicans sued the state GOP, saying its conventions operate illegally and in a way that undercuts the power of political minorities. A judge issued a temporary restraining order, essentially telling the party to change its procedures. But the party didn't really get its say last week, and when they came back for a hearing, party officials prevailed. The judge ruled that the case wasn't filed in the right court, dumped the injunction, and set things back the way they were (and have been, for the last few conventions). The prelims of the convention are already underway; the full affair starts Thursday in Houston.

A new poll has U.S. Sen. John Cornyn up by 17 points on challenger Rick Noriega.The Rasmussen Reports survey has the incumbent Republican at 52 percent and the Democratic challenger at 35 percent. The takeaway for Cornyn: It's the first public poll that gives him a reelect number above 50 percent. And the takeaway for Noriega: He's never run statewide but has 35 percent of Texas with him, while Cornyn, who's run statewide several times (Texas Supreme Court, attorney general, Senate) is hovering around 50 percent. The same pollster had the two four points apart a month ago. Neither has done any advertising or generated much in the way of headlines, so it's hard to say what moved the needle. In their write-up, the Rasmussen folks say Cornyn is viewed unfavorably by 31 percent of Texans; Noriega by 39 percent. Cornyn is viewed positively by 56 percent; Noriega by 43 percent. The pollster says voters don't have firm opinions about either candidate. What do they think about other incumbents? According to Rasmussen, Gov. Rick Perry is viewed favorably by 34 percent and unfavorably by 27 percent; President George W. Bush favorably by 40 percent and unfavorably by 40 percent. The company surveyed 500 votes by phone on June 2. The margin of error is +/- 4 percent.

Photos from inside the Governor's Mansion, ravaged by fire early Sunday morning.Gov. Rick Perry's press staff went inside the burnt Mansion to see what damage was done and they posted this thoroughly depressing online photo album.

Six years after he killed it as an unnecessary piece of bureaucracy and a legislative bottleneck, House Speaker Tom Craddick is recreating the House Office of Bill Analysis. Details are scarce, but that outfit was set up by former Speaker Pete Laney to scrub bills and bill analyses so there'd be fewer procedural killings on the House floor. Mistakes in those documents enable enemies of a bill to knock it out of contention for hours, days, weeks, or — at the ends of sessions — for a couple of years. A couple of House committees got famous in the last few years — Regulated Industries probably got the most attention — for stumbling on those sorts of errors. With the new office, blame for any mistakes would move back to the leadership.

Polls, endorsements, and a lawsuit• The Republicans suing the state GOP over how things work at the biennial convention filed an appeal to try to turn things their way before that convention starts on Thursday. They got an injuction. A judge tossed that out and put things back the way they were. And now there's an appeal. If Houston's First Court of Appeals hears it before the convention begins, we'll write it right here. • We recently cited part of a poll that offers hope to Democrat Chris Bell should he decide to run for state Senate in SD-17. And we've got our dirty little mitts on the rest of it. The survey, done by Austin-based Opinion Analysts for Texans for Insurance Reform (that's a Democratic pollster working a satellite group of the Texas trial lawyers, so you know the codes), says the district leans Republican. It says Bell has higher favorable rankings than state Sen. Kyle Janek, who resigned from the seat last week. And it says Bell is ahead in an initial horse-race matchup with one of the Republicans in the race (a second wasn't tested, apparently). Meanwhile, that Republican — Austen Furse — now has endorsements from former RNC member Tim Lambert of Lubbock and from Steve Hotze, a conservative activist in Houston. Bell, who ran for governor and lost two years ago, got 40 percent to Furse's 26.5 percent in that initial poll. That's largely name ID at this point; Furse has never run for office. But it's giving the Democrats the idea that Bell would be competitive, if he decides to run. He told us at the Democratic convention this weekend that he's "still thinking about it." • Brian Walker, the Republican challenging state Rep. Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville, in HD-11, picked up an endorsement from former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese.

Gov. Rick Perry opened the GOP's state convention with a call to battle against Democrats who he said have roused themselves for a fight."Like it or not, the Democrats are awake now, more unified than ever, and singing a seductive siren song of change," he said. "...they're really talking about change they'll be sucking out of your pocket along with dollar bills." Perry started with a promise to rebuild the Governor's Mansion that burned to a ruin at the beginning of the week, apparently a work of arson. He bragged on the state's prosperity and said the credit belongs to government restraint while he's been in office. He said the state has a budget surplus "on the north side of $10 billion" and said that should go back to taxpayers in the form of rebates, or property tax cuts, or business or sales tax cuts. And he renewed his call for a cap on state spending that's indexed to the state's growth. Perry said the state should require voters to show photo identification before they can vote, an idea generally favored by Republicans and generally opposed by Democrats. "... If you were at the Democratic convention last week, you would have had to present your ID to get your credentials," he said, to rising applause. Perry called for border security without talking directly about immigration — that's been his tack for some time. And then he told the crowd the national GOP has "lost its way", a line that prompted some delegates to stand and clap. "I must admit that I am troubled by the divisiveness that is damaging our national party from the ground up and the top down," he said. "I won't sugarcoat it: at the national level, our party has lost its way. The lack of fiscal discipline has been disheartening to all of us who know that it is the bedrock of the Republican Party. But we need to stick together and remember who our opponent is." That's where he took into the Democrats, without naming them. He closed that section with an endorsement of the presumptive nominee: "We need to make sure to send a genuine warrior to the White House by electing John McCain to be the next president of the United States."

The state's newest revenue generator — the business margins tax — is due on Monday and the state's officeholders will find out then how people really feel about it and whether the new creation is a fiscal and political win or loss.

It got barely a whimper when Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst mentioned it in his talk at the state GOP convention, but Comptroller Susan Combs has logged 90,500 calls on the new levy. And they had responded to 4,391 pieces of mail when we asked earlier in the week.

Some of the mail was addressed directly to Combs and we asked to see it. Some excerpts, with punctuation intact:

• "I hope you and all of your Texas Attorneys that profit from this satanic act sleep well at night!"

• "I wish to express my opinion that the Comptroller's implementation of the new franchise tax system has been abysmal at best. I see no reason why the forms were issued so late."

• "You have made a May 15th due date impossible for tax practitioners by not releasing your franchise forms on time." [Combs postponed the due date to June 15.]

• "I go to the download section, either to file online or print the forms and file, and the screen changes and then goes blank, yet it says done. No forms, nothing. How in the _____ are we supposed to file these _____ reports." [The blanks are in the original email.]

• "A $10.7 or $15 billion surplus is entirely sufficient reason to postpone collection of the business tax until that monster can be killed."

• "I have been preparing tax returns for forty plus years. I have been a C.P.A. in public practice for thirty six plus years. The legislation which resulted in what we have come to know as the Texas Margin Tax is disastrous... Because of the complacency of Texas taxpayes I can only fantasize about a taxpayer's revolt as a result of such Legislative and Administrative lunacy."

A Houston appeals court tossed out the lawsuit challenging the way the state's GOP convention is run, and ordered the filers "to pay all costs incurred by reason of this appeal."The court didn't get to the merits of the lawsuit, but agreed with a lower court that said "the trial court had no jurisdiction to issue the requested injunctive relief." They can still sue, but they'll have to go to a different court. The misfire unhinges this year's challenge, as far as the convention is concerned: The suit was filed last week and went through three courts on the way to this result. If any changes ultimately come out of any of the legal wrangle, they'll affect the 2010 convention and not the one that's going on right now in Houston. Gary Polland, the lawyer for the challengers, said the fight isn't over. "My clients want me to pursue this and that is what we're going to do," he said. There's a copy of the ruling below.

Ron Paul officially quit the race for president to start up a new thing called the "Campaign for Liberty."He also unveiled a website where followers can sign up and read his letter leaving the presidential race and starting the new gig. The new group's mission? "The mission of the Campaign for Liberty is to promote and defend the great American principles of individual liberty, constitutional government, sound money, free markets, and a noninterventionist foreign policy, by means of educational and political activity."

Newt Gingrich concentrated on gasoline prices and asked the delegates to go to his website and sign a petition urging Congress to unfetter domestic oil exploration.

He's going for a million signatures through that website, AmericanSolutions.com, using the slogan (he got the conventioneers to repeat it several times) "Drill here, drill now, pay less."

Gingrich contended the Republican Party would be the natural landing spot for people who want to cut gasoline prices, and said that would happen only if drilling in the U.S. is increased. The Democrats, he said, want to "smile pleasantly while letting the country strangle without any energy."

He blasted Barack Obama's position on domestic drilling and said it was out of touch with the parts of America where people don't rely on mass transit: "If you're not going to use any energy, then you're going to have a good candidate. And you can sit in the dark and chant, 'No, we can't.'"

He got crowd charged up — more than any speaker before him Thursday or Friday — with the populist lines about gas prices. "You want to pump more. Let's pump it in the United States."

And he brought them to their feet with this one, though it looks milder on paper than it seemed in the hall: "We should release a significant part of Strategic Oil Reserve to lower prices and punish the speculators who have been betting against the United States.... if we can bankrupt the speculators, I'm personally relatively happy."

Kay Bailey Hutchison didn't mention 2010 in her speech to Republican delegates gathered in Houston, or in shorter talks earlier in the day at smaller functions.

With delegates whispering about the possibility she'll run for governor two years from now, Hutchison kept her talk on 2008.

She served political red meat, talking to the Republicans about guns, war, defeatist Democrats, gas prices, immigration, toll roads and the unpopular — with this crowd, certainly — Trans-Texas Corridor. Not included this time: Her criticism of the new business margins tax that's due for the first time next week.

Most of those are issues you'd hear about in a gubernatorial campaign, and the road issues in particular have more to do with state than with federal policy.

Hutchison praised President George W. Bush in her speech — mentions of Bush have been noticeably scarce compared to years past.

And she went on offense, touting John McCain's experience and military record and saying Barack Obama sounded like he was running for a second term for Jimmy Carter. That morphed into an attack on congressional Democrats for their proposals to end Bush's tax cuts and for "bills that would lead to defeat in Iraq."

She encouraged them to help U.S. Sen. John Cornyn win a second term.

She blamed high gasoline prices for dragging down the economy, the job market, and the stock market and said congressional Republicans have set a goal of energy independence in ten years. They'd get there by allowing drilling in ANWR, in the Outer Continental Shelf and in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah — plans she says have been blocked by Democrats in Congress.

Hutchison, like Perry the day before, stressed the crime and security line on immigration, saying the U.S. needs to stop criminals and drugs from crossing, and needs to welcome immigrants while stopping illegal immigration.

She touted an amicus brief against Washington, D.C.'s gun laws that was signed by her and more than 300 other members of Congress; they seek to end the ban on guns there.

The biggest reaction from the conservative audience came when Hutchison said she's against adding tolls on existing highways and that she "strongly oppose[s] the Trans-Texas Corridor."

She said she continues to support the war in Iraq and said Democrats "often keep calling for surrender."

She closed with a counter to Texas Democrats who have said they hope to extend their advantage in Dallas County and to take Harris County from the Republicans who dominate there. "I'm going to tell you what my goal is. It is to take back Dallas County, to keep Harris County, to make sure that we lead our charge for the United States of America."