The state's politicians are forced to regroup four weeks before voting begins.

The post-Ike damage report according to Gov. Rick Perry's office, as of Thursday — a week after hundreds of thousands of Texans evacuated their homes on and near the Gulf Coast: 21,941 refugees were still housed in 211 shelters statewide; 1.6 million customers were waiting for power to return, with 9,500 people working on that particular problem and electric companies saying it will be next week before most of those people get their power back. You can look at all the particulars, if you need them or are just curious, on the governor's website.

Those are improvements, and the political world is slowly pulling itself together along with the communities that got smacked by the hurricane. The political winners, so far, are the same folks who did this right last time: Perry, Houston Mayor Bill White, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, and a gazillion people who threw in and helped. Ike doesn't yet have a goat — at least not on the scale of Katrina or Rita, when the federal government stepped in that role.

The cleanup will take a while. The political questions are pretty simple:

• What does each campaign do with the time left?

• Are voters displaced, and does one candidate or another benefit from that and is there any way to work around it?

• Did the storm give anybody new issues to run with?

Early voting is just a month away (October 20) and voters displaced by Hurricane Ike (or by anything else) have until October 28 to get a mail-in ballot to take care of their election business. Voter registration is open until October 6. In areas slow to recover, those votes could be critical. But they are, by definition, hard to reach; how's a candidate to know where voters have burrowed while their homes are being repaired or replaced?

Expect the parties to aggressively promote that voting alternative. And expect it especially from the Democrats. It looks like the areas hardest hit by Ike tend to be more Democratic than Republicans (and in some cases, "tend" isn't strong enough). Senate candidates like Chris Bell and Joe Jaworski and congressional Democrat Nick Lampson will be pushing to replace or encourage voters who won't be home to vote on November 4. Half of Galveston Island is in SD-17, where Bell and five others are vying to replace Republican Kyle Janek. The other half is in Sen. Mike Jackson's SD-11. Jaworski is trying to knock off the La Porte Republican and most political folk who've looked say the Democrat's base was probably hit harder than the incumbent's (though both were hit politically and in the case of their own homes, personally).

The displacement isn't just about voting. Candidates like to communicate with voters and it's hard to do when the TV set is floating in the backyard and the mailbox has blown into the next county. That's especially a problem for lesser-known candidates who were hoping to use these last weeks to make an impression on voters.

Some candidates have restarted the ads they pulled when the hurricane's direction wasn't clear. The game's not back on in Galveston or Houston yet, but it is in Corpus Christi. And candidates — even from those areas — are resuming their fundraising, particularly if they were set to raise money in Austin, which completely avoided the weather.

How this will affect voting isn't clear at all. Hope Andrade, the new Texas Secretary of State, is talking to local election officials, but hasn't yet formulated a public plan to let displaced voters cast ballots or to run elections in areas that are still getting themselves back together. Mail ballots to overseas voters go out this weekend and are available to voters in the state. But it's not like going door to door to get out their votes, and candidates are still figuring this out.

The Annotated Ballot

Who's got trouble, and who's got an open road? Forty House members have no contests left and 79 are either unopposed or have only minor party opponents. That's true for eight state senators, eight members of the congressional delegation, and one statewide incumbent. Meanwhile, a couple of dozen contests look — at the moment — very competitive.

[click image to download a copy]

Barring the Ballot

John McCain and Barack Obama won't be on the Texas ballot if the courts agree with Libertarian candidate Bob Barr, who's filed a lawsuit saying the two major parties missed the deadline for getting their top-of-the-ticket candidates listed.

His contention — discounted by the Texas Secretary of State, who's on the other end of the lawsuit — is that state law doesn't allow election officials to wait until the Democratic and Republican conventions are over and that neither of the national parties named their nominees in time to make the statutory deadline in Texas. When this first arose a couple of weeks ago, SOS officials said the parties had done what they needed to do in time, and still had room to amend their candidate lists to include the presidential and vice presidential nominees.

Another law comes into play here: It's too late to remove candidates from the Texas ballots (though Barr's lawsuit asks the state to reprint the ballots after it strikes Obama and Biden, McCain and Palin from the list of certified candidates). And the ballots being mailed out for overseas military personnel and others are going out right about now. The Court denied Barr's request to stop the mail and asked both sides for briefs. It's still possible for the courts to prevent the state from counting the votes for candidates deemed illegal.

The state's lawyers gigged the former congressman for trying to stop those ballots; it turns out he co-sponsored the federal legislation that requires states to sent military ballots at least 45 days before an election. In this case, that's Saturday, September 20.

• Don't like any of the presidential candidates on the ballot? Texas also counts votes for certified write-in candidates, and there are seven pairs of them from all over the country. Take your pick: Jonathan Allen and Jeffrey Stath, Chuck Baldwin and Darrell Castle, Thaddaus Hill and Gordon Bail, Alan Keyes and Marvin Sprouse Jr., Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clements, Brian Moore and Stewart Alexander, and Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez.

Party Lines, Breached

Republican Sen. Kim Brimer picked up endorsements from all 19 mayors in the Senate district, including Fort Worth's Mike Moncrief, a Democrat and a former state senator.

That's a stinker for the Wendy Davis campaign; the Democratic challenger is from Moncrief's party, and served on the city council with him until quitting to make this race.

Moncrief and the other mayors who came out for Brimer are elected in nonpartisan contests; Moncrief's party bona fides are well known, though, because he served in Democratic shoes as Tarrant County Judge and in the Legislature. The full list, according to the Brimer campaign:

Dorothy Aderholt, Pantego; Bob Cluck, Arlington; David Cook, Mansfield; Billy Davis, Crowley; Jerry Dittrich, Benbrook; James Gosey, Forest Hill; David Kelly, Colleyville; Bryan Lankhorst, Kennedale; Pat McGrail, Keller; Mike Moncrief, Fort Worth; Mary Lib Saleh, Euless; Ken Shetter, Burleson; Jim Stephenson, Everman; Jim Story, Bedford; Chuck Talbot, Edgecliff Village; Michael Tedder, Dalworthington Gardens; Oscar Trevino, North Richland Hills; Andy Wambsganss, Southlake; and Richard Ward, Hurst.

He picked up some former mayors, too, including Bob Bolen, Kay Granger, and Jewel Woods of Fort Worth, and Harold Patterson and Tom Vandergriff of Arlington.

Moncrief's party wasn't happy. A spokesman for the Texas Democratic Party blasted the mayor for folding up after Senate redistricting drew his residence outside his Senate district and forced him to choose. Hector Nieto said the endorsement " is nothing short of ironic given that Moncrief allowed Brimer and his Republican cronies to push him out of his own Senate seat 6 years ago. If Mike Moncrief truly cared about the people of Senate District 10, he would have run for re-election. Instead, he chose to be bullied by Republican politicians and is once again bending at their will."

Moncrief didn't return calls seeking comment about the endorsement or the towel-snapping.

There's more of that coming. Davis has a fundraiser coming up at Dallas attorney Fred Baron's house that'll surely draw Republican fire for a) being in Dallas, and b) being at the home of the Democratic financier who helped former presidential candidate John Edwards untangle himself from an extramarital affair. Baron paid to move Edwards' paramour to a new home. Baron's money hasn't been a real issue in a Texas race, but not for lack of GOP effort.

Jamie Fontaine — Davis' new campaign manager — answered back with this pop: "We'll be having an event at Fred Baron's house raise the funds we need to communicate with voters, and we can guarantee that none of that money will be used to purchase Wendy Davis a luxury condo in Austin, like Mr. Brimer did with campaign funds in 1996."

That's a reference to Brimer's use of campaign funds — sanctioned by the Texas Ethics Commission — to pay rent on an Austin condo that was owned by his wife.

Other Side of the Trinity

Now there's another reason for Wendy Davis to go to Dallas. The Fort Worth appeals court deciding on her eligibility for the race against Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth, punted to Dallas. That delayed hearings set for this week and that, in turn, will delay a verdict.

Score it as sort of a win for Davis. Brimer went to court to knock her off the ballot, and any delays that push the courts closer to Election Day probably benefit her side, at least in terms of keeping her on the ballot. His team argues that the delay keeps questions of her eligibility in the public mind. A lower court judge ruled against Brimer, setting up this appeal.

The Fort Worth court got the case last month and set a hearing for this week. But two days before they were supposed to get busy, they asked the state's highest civil court to move it from their plate to the 5th Court of Appeals in Dallas.

In their letter asking the Texas Supreme Court to move the case to Dallas, the judges on the Fort Worth court were cryptic: "Subsequent to scheduling the case for submission, however, circumstances have arisen which warrant that the case be transferred to another court." They didn't say whether they had conflicts, got scared of what might happen come reelection time, or just wanted to go to the movies instead. And they don't have to give a public reason.

The Dallas court has not yet set a hearing date.

Flotsam & Jetsam

Chris Turner, the Democrat challenging Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, in HD-96, got the Texas Parent PAC's endorsement. They're unhappy with the incumbent for votes to cut school funding, textbook funding and for co-authoring a private school voucher bill.

• Bryan Daniel, the Republican running in the open HD-52 seat, claims the endorsements of "all the major agriculture groups" in the state. His list includes the Texas Farm Bureau, the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the Texas Agricultural Cooperative Council, the Texas Cattle Feeders Association, the Texas Poultry Federation, the Texas Pork Producers Association, the Texas Association of Dairymen, and the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association. That's a partly rural but mostly suburban district.

• Want to know how much money the state had at the end of its fiscal year almost three weeks ago? Fuggetaboutit. Officials with the comptroller's office, which also serves as the state treasury, say they won't let those numbers loose until they publish the cash balance numbers, including the amount of money in the state's general revenue account at the end of the fiscal year. That number is the best overall measure of how the state's actual spending matches up with its budget. It'll be out soon, they say.

• The Texas Lottery has its year end numbers: The games put $983 million into the state treasury during the last fiscal year. That's after six years in a row of contributions over $1 billion.

• With the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs ended their contract with the state's TexPool and subbed in Federated Investors to run that operation. TexPool is a state fund that lends money to local governments to meet cash flow needs. Lehman wasn't the investment manager, but handled marketing and client services. The two companies had a joint contract, collecting fees from the local governments whose money they were investing. Federated, which is the investment manager, will keep its current duties and take over for Lehman. And Combs says the Lehman bankruptcy had no financial impact on TexPool's operations.

• Attorney General Greg Abbott opened his database to storm shelters, offering them the chance to run names to make sure they identified any sex offenders among their refugees. Through mid-week, Operation Safe Shelter had done 5,555 checks and found 18 registered sex offenders.

• The Texas Supreme Court extended deadlines for court pleadings (where it could — some of this is set in law and not by rule) so the storms wouldn't lose anyone their legal battles. Short form: If the courthouse isn't open, those papers are not due. And the justices say Louisiana lawyers displaced by storms can do their Louisiana work from Texas without breaking the law.

• Three business groups have formed the Texas R&D Alliance to promote tax incentives they say will make the state competitive with other states in attracting and promoting bioscience and electronics research. That new outfit includes the Texas Association of Business, the American Electronics Association, and the Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute.

• The Texas Lyceum is sponsoring a statewide public conference on transportation in Houston on October 3, featuring legislators, business people and think-tankers who'll talk about the state's infrastructure and what it needs and how to pay for it, among other things. Details are available on that group's website, at www.texaslyceum.org.

Political People and Their Moves

Esperanza "Hope" Andrade of San Antonio is formally the Texas Secretary of State after a public swearing-in ceremony in the Texas House chamber. She was named and sworn in by Gov. Rick Perry a few weeks ago, replacing Phil Wilson, but now she's done the ceremonial thing. Just in time: There are under 50 days left until the general election.

Former Rep. Dianne White Delisi, R-Temple, has been appointed to be a civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army, a posting that makes her an Army liaison to the state Legislature and other groups in the state. That's a non-paying gig.

Luke Bellsnyder, who's been a political consultant, legislative aide (state and federal) and lobbyist, will be the new executive director of the Texas Association of Manufacturers. He's probably best known for the time he spent working for Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano; he was most recently with the Polan-Culley lobby firm.

Add Randall Dillard to Andrade's media office. He was a spokesman for the Texas Department of Transportation before moving to SOS.

Dave Montgomery, who reported on Austin before leaving almost three decades ago for Washington, D.C., is on his way back. He'll move from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's office in the nation's capital back to Texas, taking a spot in a bureau that's currently unpopulated.

Recovering: Former U.S. Rep. Kika de la Garza and his wife, Lucille de la Garza, after a traffic accident in McAllen.

Deaths: International Boundary and Water Commissioner Carlos Marin of El Paso and Rio Grande COG director and former Presidio County Judge Jake Brisbin Jr., in a plane crash while inspecting flooding along the border. Two others, including the pilot, and Marin's Mexican counterpart — Arturo Herrera — also died. The conditions they were inspecting have worsened. Add Presidio County to the official state disaster list. A levy breach along the Rio Grande River there poses a flood threat and the state sent helicopters to help with sandbags and supplies.

Quotes of the Week

Michael Ray Kujawa, the owner of a lioness named Shackle, telling the Austin American-Statesman how she behaved around a group of Hurricane Ike refugees in a church during that storm: "They worked pretty well together, actually. When you have to swim, the lion doesn't care about eating nobody."

Galveston County medical examiner Stephen Pustilniks, quoted by the Associated Press on the relatively small death toll from Hurricane Ike: "We don't know what's out there in the wilds. Searchers weren't looking for bodies; they were looking for survivors."

Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, quoted in the Houston Chronicle on the condition of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, where claims are expected to outrun reserves by a two-to-one ratio: "TWIA is wiped out. It's naked."

Karla Randel, a resident whose house was damaged when Ike knocked over some large trees, in the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel: "I wanted to redo the bathroom anyway."

Democratic consultant Dan McClung, telling the Houston Chronicle how the Hurricane might affect the elections: "I just always presume that the Republicans have the higher ground because it's the most expensive."

Cyclist Lance Armstrong, talking about his political future in Men's Journal: "You could argue that you're far more effective as a Texas governor than a senator. Plus I don't want to be in DC half the year because of my kids. I don't know what's going to happen with all this, I reckon I really don't. I do have a hunch."

Clay Hodges, general manager of Cash Special Utility District, explaining to WFAA-TV how a Rockwall County home burned down because the fire hydrants had been turned off since just after 9/11: "These hydrants need to be cut off in a way to prevent vandalism or any kind of terrorist activity, including something in the water lines."

---

Texas Weekly: Volume 25, Issue 36, 22 September 2008. Ross Ramsey, Editor. Copyright 2008 by Printing Production Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. One-year online subscription: $250. For information about your subscription, call (512) 302-5703 or email biz@texasweekly.com. For news, email ramsey@texasweekly.com, or call (512) 288-6598.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn hits the airwaves (after a hurricane delay) with an ad calling for change in Washington, D.C., and another calling for help for Texans set back and displaced by storms.Both Cornyn ads — like the Republican incumbent's new website — are in black and white. The first, called "Palo Duro," will air in 16 Texas TV markets and also in online ads on more than a dozen Texas newspaper websites. And they're holding off in Houston and Beaumont, where people are dealing with aftereffects of Hurricane Ike, for at least a week. The second ad, called "Help," is airing in 18 TV markets, including Houston and Beaumont. Democrat Rick Noriega hasn't yet announced an ad campaign for the last weeks of the election season, but he does have a response ad on the Internet. Here they are:

Hurricane Ike demanded the attentions of state bloggers again this week. Ike temporarily shut down writers in Houston and East Texas, halted political campaigning (but not politicking), and inspired residents to whip out their cameras. We grabbed a few more posts on the storm, and then a handful on other topics.

* * * * *

Reboots on the Ground

When his power came back on Sunday, Dos Centavos thought about lighting up a celebratory cigar, but reconsidered when he realized that might mean spending time outside. TexasSparkleregained power on Saturday and made up for a missed week of blogging in one post. And here are some observations from Houston's Clear Thinkers.

"Do you have power yet?" That's the standard greeting in Houston right now, according to Blogs of War. Ike was the worst storm since Hurricane Andrew in the early 90s, says Pondering Penguin. "It will be months until the nation’s fourth largest city is normal, and years until Ike is just an awful memory," saysRight Side of the Rainbow.

Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center wants people who need help to make their presence known by posting a comment on the blog. PoliSci@UT feels guilty leaving Houston to pick up a baby boy in Kansas City. Meanwhile, Rhymes with Right is taking prolonged refuge in his church's "youth room" until his house is repaired.

And Old Soldier wins Headline of the Week award for: "Well Ike Kicked Our Ass."

* * * * *

Hurricane Parties

John Cornynran an ad Tuesday in Austin, Dallas and Amarillo, despite promises to cease campaigning during hurricane recovery, says Postcards from the Lege, the Austin American-Statesman's blog. KVUE's Political Junkie explains that the Cornyn campaign did try to pull the commercials, but it was too late according to KVUE rules. "Either way, it looks bad," says Capitol Annex. [eds. note: The ads are now up and running full time, with Houston and Beaumont getting commercials aimed at generating help for storm victims (and for Cornyn).]

Lone Star Timesgets angry with Democratic challenger Rick Noriega for sniping at Cornyn while Noriega (who was called up for active National Guard duty for hurricane relief) was not in his district. And according to Lonnie Walker's Blog, Noriega is a "liberal hypocrite" because he made a couple of campaign appearances after the storm hit.

HD-127 Democrat Joe Montemayor writes a letter to constituents, via Half-Empty. And Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr thinks (surprise!) the government should get out of the way of hurricane evacuees who want to go back home, according to Postcards.

Windstorm insurance is now a hot topic in the House race between incumbent Juan Garcia, D-Corpus Christi, and Republican Todd Hunter, says Capitol Annex, while BurkaBlog says the old question of whether wind insurance should cover storm surge damage is likely to resurface again and again.

* * * * *

Storm Shutters

Web developer Jake Cantrell is posting residents' photos of hurricane damage to Crystal Beach. Plowing, Sowing and an Occasional Harvest has photos of damage near Beaumont. Texas Rainmaker got more than he bargained for with the storm, and took photos of it. And Tex Parte Blog has pictures here, here, here, and here.

And the Houston Chronicle's Beltway Confidential shadowed President George W. Bush during his visit to areas hit by Ike, and got a photo of him holding hands with the mayor of Galveston.

* * * * *

Debris

"[T]here’s one power that’s back on and in full effect: plaintiffs lawyers," says Tex Parte Blog, who posted a ton more times. Burnt Orange Reportcirculates rumors (that did not materialize, unless they meant fish) of "AT LEAST 1500 bodies in trees scattered about Galveston." And Texas Observer Blog thinks it's a good time to start thinking about creating an evacuation policy for exotic animals.

Meanwhile, the Chronicle's Texas on the Potomac has polls where readers can grade the responses of just about everyone associated with hurricane relief, including the newspaper.

* * * * *

Non-Wind-Aided

Land Commissioner Jerry Pattersonleaned on Libertarian Lenard Nelson to drop out of a tight contest for HD-32 (currently held by Corpus Christi Dem Garcia), says Annex. Plano's Liberty Legal Institute is suing GOP vice-presidential pick Sarah Palin over "Troopergate," says Tex Parte. And Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth, was spotted at a union meeting, says Texas Cloverleaf, who isn't impressed.

Annex has started an online support group for political bloggers where they can discuss the intriguing nuances of blogging software. It's only September, but Greg's Opinion is spreading the word that he'll be creating a site to track key counties on November's election night. And Off the Kuffinterviews HD-138 Democratic candidate Virginia McDavid.

El Paso Republican Dee Margo sent out an e-mail "attacking his opponent [Democrat Joe Moody] for attacking him," reportsVaqueros & Wonkeros, the El Paso Times's blog.

Bookmark this post to re-read on Nov. 5: "50 State Prediction for the 2008 Presidential Race," by Kevin Tracy. And A Keyboard and a .45 wishes readers a "Happy Constitution Day!"

---

This edition of Out There was compiled and written by Patrick Brendel, who hails from Victoria but is semi-settled in Austin. 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.

Democrat Rick Noriega shoots back at John Cornyn with an online ad and a fundraising pitch.Noriega's ad is called "All by Himself."

The Texas Supreme Court, without comment, left the Democratic and Republican presidential tickets on the Texas ballot, denying a Libertarian claim that the two major parties missed a state deadline.Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr sued the state, saying the major party conventions nominated their candidates after the state's statutory deadline had passed. Barr contended he was the only candidate with the legal right to appear on the Texas ballot. The Supremes disagreed, without offering any written opinion or explanation. Your ballot will have Barr, John McCain and Barack Obama on it. The big parties lauded the decision, but the chairman of the Texas Libertarian Party said it left questions unanswered: "We are naturally disappointed that the Supreme Court has refused to enforce the law against Republicans and Democrats in this case, when courts have repeatedly enforced the law against Libertarians, other minor parties, and independents in past cases," said Pat Dixon. He complained that the lack of a written opinion leaves unclear whether and when the deadlines are meant to be enforced. Russell Verney, a spokesman for the Barr campaign, had a similar reaction. "The Court’s one-sentence denial deprived us, and the voters of Texas, of any explanation of the Courts reasons for arbitrarily exempting the Republicans and the Democrats from the clear deadline set forth in the law," he said. "Third parties and Independent candidates are consistently told that deadlines are deadlines. Texas has somehow determined that deadlines are just suggestions but we are left without the guidance of the Court’s reasons."

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison told her colleagues in the Senate today that she won't be seeking reelection to her Senate leadership job.Add that to the other signs that she's preparing to leave the Senate early to run for governor. Hutchison, who strongly considered running for the top state job in 2002 and again in 2006, has been telling potential supporters and campaign finance people that she'll run in 2010. She's the policy chair of the Senate Republican Conference. Asked about what she said to the Republicans, her office issued a statement. "In order to explore new opportunities that many Texans have asked me to consider, I informed my colleagues in the Senate today that I would not seek re-election as Chair of the Republican Policy Committee. I have been honored to serve in the leadership for eight years, and have especially enjoyed shaping our policy positions in my current role; however, it is in the best interests of the conference to elect a new policy committee chairman who can commit full attention throughout the next Congress to Policy Committee responsibilities." Gov. Rick Perry has said he'll run for reelection to a third term. There's no reason not to believe that, but Perry's also got to preserve his power going into the 2009 legislative session; being a lame duck wouldn't help with the Legislature in town. The Dallas Morning News is also working on this one; here's their take.

A new group formed to push the Legislature to allow more gambling opportunities at Texas racetracks puts all the ponies in one corral.

Texas HORSE — which stands Horse Organizations for Racing, Showing and Event — consolidates the American Quarter Horse Association, American Paint Horse Association, National Cutting Horse Association, Texas Arabian Breeders Association, Texas Quarter Horse Association and Texas Thoroughbred Association. They say they want to present "a unified front" next year in yet another effort to legalize casino-style games at the state's 13 licensed tracks.

The racing industry, with the sometimes on-and-off support of such state leaders as Gov. Rick Perry, then Agriculture Commissioner and now Comptroller Susan Combs, and former Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, has been trying to convince lawmakers since 2003 to open up the state to the kind of gambling that's long been legal in all the U.S. states that border Texas.

But each session, the effort sputters. And it doesn't seem to matter whether the state's facing a daunting budget crisis, like the near-$10 billion hole in '03, or the coffers are overflowing, as Combs is projecting, informally, for 2009.

"It is time to put Texas horses and Texas horsemen out in front of this legislative effort," said Jim Helzer, an Arlington quarterhorseman who was elected president of the new group at its organizational meeting in July. "Passage of (new gambling legislation) will have a tremendous positive impact on the agricultural economy and on rural development in Texas."

Under the proposal being backed by HORSE, the money generated from additional gambling would be pumped into a Performance Horse Development Fund, which would be used to promote such non-racing equine activities as cutting, reining, barrel racing, team roping, Western pleasure, rodeo and trail rides.

There would also be money for the racehorses and for such initiatives as health care for low-income Texans and for better roads and highways, they say.

State Rep. Sid Miller, the Stephenville Republican who chairs the House Agriculture and Livestock Committee, said he expects to hear pitches from HORSE and some of the other pro-gambling organization when his panel meets next week (October 1) at Tarleton State University to discuss ways to bump up purses for a variety of horse events.

But Miller remains skeptical that the 81st Legislature will have any greater appetite for gambling that the ones that came before.

"I expect we'll hear all sorts of proposals for VLTs (video lottery terminals) and everything else, but I'm just not convinced they can pass," Miller said. "I agree we need to do something for the horsemen, but I think we need to be looking at other alternatives."

One option, he said, would be to follow Kentucky's lead and levy a sales tax on horse-breeding fees.

And even as HORSE and other groups continue to explore ways to make gambling more appealing to lawmakers, forces on the other side are gearing up to go toe-to-toe with them.

Weston Ware, who over the past two decades-plus has waged battles against pari-mutuel betting, the lottery, and casinos, has reactivated his group Texans Against Gambling with online petitions and money-solicitations of $10 to $100 to counter the much better-financed pro-gambling organizations. He said 250 online signatures were gathered within the first week of his plea.

"We put lawmakers on notice that voters across the state will oppose any action that might lead to expanded gambling in Texas," Ware said.

—by John Moritz

Democrats in HD-52 say Williamson County is headed in their direction. They've got quite a rally going around their candidate, Diana Maldonado. But Republican candidate Bryan Daniel says he doesn't think the district is going blue, and other Republicans say the Democrats are misreading the results of the 2006 elections.

Democrats need to win five seats to take over the House, and this is one of several they're counting on. Republican incumbent Mike Krusee has held the seat since 1993. In 2006, he defeated Democrat Karen Felthauser by only 2,333 votes (50.4 percent to her 44.2 percent — Libertarian Lillian Simmons got 5.3 percent and she's going for it again this year), and Felthauser did it without much money and with no significant outside help. It looked to some like Democrats were rising in the district. Others thought the result had more to do with dissatisfaction over the incumbent than in any change in the electorate. About the same number of Democrats turned out for this year's primary (16,870) as for the 2006 general election.

"Since the primary, the energy is really picking up," says Maldonado, a former Round Rock School Board Trustee. "We have so many groups coming out to block walk — high school seniors, the UT Democrats and even a group from San Angelo came out."

She says some of her Democratic friends have had to "go Republican" in the past to maintain their businesses or form associations, but "with a good slate of Democratic candidates, they are able to come out and be themselves." Maldonado also says growth and changing demographics in Williamson County mean a shift to the left.

Daniel isn't buying it.

"I haven't seen evidence of a huge shift in conservative versus liberal," he says. "People are going around saying District 52 is becoming more liberal, but I'm certainly not seeing that in the issues with my voters. I think they're the same as they've been in the last eight to ten years."

Daniel, an agricultural insurance exec, says growth has certainly brought new voters and with that, an atmosphere that invites political discussion, but overall, he believes Williamson County has retained conservative values.

Mid-year reports with the Texas Ethics Commission shows Maldonado is way ahead financially with almost $139,000 in contributions and just over $129,000 left over in cash. She's been campaigning since July 2007. Bryan had raised about $60,000 since the primary and held on to half of it, but he didn't start raising money until January. New reports are due soon — 30 days before the November 4 election.

The candidates aren't getting after each other too much — both say in their own words that they're focusing on the issues, from toll roads to the margins tax. (You can catch videos of their recent debate in Hutto here.)

But, Maldonado criticized has Daniel for taking contributions from Bob Perry of Perry Homes in Houston — in light of the Sunset Advisory Commission's recommendation to abolish the Texas Residential Construction Commission. "It's a problem if we want change," she says. "We have to be committed to make sure we don't have anymore cronyism, scare tactics and back room deals that the current leadership has put us in."

Daniel says that Maldonado takes donations from trial lawyers and has no room to talk. Maldonado says trial lawyers are playing because there's a speaker's race underway and she's a vote against the incumbent, Tom Craddick of Midland. Daniel hasn't specified whether he'll support Craddick if elected.

"He's proven to be very conservative," she says. "It's the same tired politics, he's pretty much going down that path."

The only thing these candidates really agree on is their parties' respective presidential tickets — both are sure the top of the ticket is going to bring big crowds to their downballot race.

—by Karie Meltzer

Hurricane Ike threw a campaign curveball at the candidates in CD-22. U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, who's also busy with congressional work on the Wall Street bailout, is taking a complete break from campaigning. His opponent, Pete Olson, is trying to balance campaigning and recovery efforts.

The district covers four counties — Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston and Harris. Damage and power outages were pretty widespread, and there are still hundreds of thousands of homes and offices without power. With so many displaced voters, the candidates have lost ad space all around. But that's not a total loss, politically — they gained face time with voters.

"He was all over the district," says Lampson spokesman Trevor Kincaid, "talking to people on the ground and calling mayors to make sure the federal and state governments were responding to their needs."

Lampson also helped get a mobile FEMA unit set up in Galveston.

"He hasn't been able to be here constantly," says Sue Funkhouser, chair of the Brazoria County Democrats, "but he's made his presence known. I don't know that he's been necessarily hurt by this."

Power outages forced the Olson campaign to shut down for a while, but they're getting back into the game.

"We spent that time volunteering in the district and we're slowly beginning to campaign in the district where it's appropriate," Olson says. "There are certainly some areas that have a long way to go."

Both campaigns say their main focus is getting the district back to some state of normalcy, so there's no clear vision of how the next few weeks will play out.

Even debates are shaky. Olson wanted four, but Lampson just agreed to one. Then he cancelled one scheduled for October 20 at the Rosenberg-Richmond Chamber of Commerce. That didn't make the chamber's CEO Gail Parker too happy. They had another debate scheduled for October 1 at the Hilton Houston NASA Clear Lake (say that five times fast), but the hotel suffered major damage. It's safe to say next week's debate might not happen, even though the campaigns are looking for a new location.

"The campaign is on the back burner," says Kincaid, "but we're looking forward to a debate. It's just a question of where and when."

At mid-year, Lampson was ahead in the money game with about $1,600,000 in donations. He'd spent just over $600 thousand. Olson had raised about $1,300,000 — but his spending (lots on consultants) left him with just over $200,000 in cash. He says the funding situation is what led him to launch a new campaign Web site about Lampson's record.

"We're acting like we're behind," says Olson, "When people say this is a Republican district and stronghold and we should win comfortably, I don't believe it. We're not acting that way."

—by Karie Meltzer

Two of Corpus Christi's TV stations refused ads from the Nueces County GOP, saying the commercials tying an indicted lawyer to Democratic officeholders didn't pass their fact checks. The party revised the adto keep it on a third station. It tries to link money donated by Mauricio Celis to Reps. Juan Garcia of Corpus and Abel Herrero of Robstown. The ads say Celis gave to a PAC that in turn gave to the two candidates and says their elections were tainted as a result. Herrero has said he took the contributions in good faith and did nothing improper. Garcia's campaign has documented the PAC's spending to show that it had used all of Celis' money and replenished its balance with other contributions before giving to Garcia. After Celis' indictment, both candidates made charitable contributions with the money he'd donated this cycle.

• The Texas Farm Bureau's AGFUND — that's their political action committee — endorsed U.S. Sen. John Cornyn for reelection over Democrat Rick Noriega. The PAC affiliate of the Texas Association of Realtors endorsed Bryan Daniel over Diana Maldonado in HD-52. Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, picked up the Texas Parent PAC's endorsement; she's running against Republican Pamela Waggoner. Rep. Juan Garcia, D-Corpus Christi, got an endorsement from CLEAT (the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas) in his race against former Rep. Todd Hunter.

• House Speaker Tom Craddick is hosting a funder for Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, in Austin early next month — no surprise there. But the special guest is interesting because she's been away from this sort of thing in Texas for a while: Karen Hughes, former top aide to President George W. Bush.

• Nine Republican House candidates — only two of them current incumbents — made the list of people who'll benefit from a "Red River Rivalry Fundraiser" in Dallas on the Friday before the UT-OU football game. The roster: Rep. Tony Goolsby and former Rep. Bill Keffer of Dallas, Rep. Bill Zedler and Mark Shelton of Fort Worth, Ralph Sheffield of Temple, Tim Kleinschmidt of Lexington, Mike Anderson of Mesquite, Ken Legler of Pasadena, and Bryan Daniel of Georgetown. All but one of those is considered a real race: Sheffield is running against Democrat Sam Murphey in a solidly Republican district, but some political types on both sides have that contest on their "sleeper" lists.

• They delayed elections in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and even after Gustav. Now a group of Texans is asking for a delay not in the election date but in the deadline for voter registration. The law gives Texans about a week — until October 6 — to sign up. These folks are asking Gov. Rick Perry to extend the deadline because of Ike: League of Women Voters of Texas, Houston Votes, Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, Common Cause, and the People for the American Way Foundation.

• That Houston conference on transportation we told you about last week? Moved to December 3, courtesy of Hurricane Ike. You can get details from the Texas Lyceum, which is hosting.

• The next turn of the screw in the Brimer-Davis eligibility fight is set for Thursday, October 2, when the two sides argue before the 5th Court of Appeals in Dallas. Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth, sued to knock Democrat Wendy Davis out of contention, saying she wasn't off the Fort Worth city council soon enough to qualify for the Senate race. The courts might not be able to take her off the ballot this late, if they think that's the thing to do, but they could tell election officials not to count the votes of an illegal candidate.

• The Speaker's Golf Tournament raised $590,000 for childhood immunizations according to Speaker Tom Craddick's office. That money goes to the Caring for Children Foundation.

• Joan Huffman, one of six candidates running for Sen. Kyle Janek's open SD-17 seat, signed the Grover Norquist tax pledge, saying she will "oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes." That's sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform — Norquist's group. Huffman joins 15 challengers in Texas and 38 state legislators (including Janek) who've taken the pledge.

• Michael Skelly is touting a new poll showing him seven percentage points behind U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, and saying he started 20 points back. That's attached to a fundraising missive.

The new deputy executive director at the Teacher Retirement System is Brian Guthrie, until recently the number two guy in Gov. Rick Perry's office of budget, planning and policy. That came on a 5-4 vote, with some teacher groups nervous about the Guv's influence at the retirement fund for educators.

The Texas Observer has a new editor: Bob Moser, a writer and editor for The Nation and former editor of the Independent Weekly, will take over next month. He's the replacement for Jake Bernstein, who left for a reporting job with New York-based Pro Publica.

Bob Strauser is retiring from Baker Botts, but not from lobbying. He's opening a legislative consulting shop of his own. Strauser says he'll share offices with former Sen. Buster Brown starting next month.

The latest escapee from the Pink Building is Royce Poinsett, general counsel to House Speaker Tom Craddick. He's going to the McGinnis Lochridge & Kilgore law firm, joining their lobby practice.

David Dunn is the founding executive director of the Texas Charter School Association. He's got a lot of history in Texas, but was most recently chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.

Anne Dunkelberg of the Center for Public Policy Priorities won this year's distinguished public service award from the alumni association at UT's LBJ School of Public Affairs. She's a 1988 grad.

Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, is getting this year's National Distinguished Advocacy Award from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. That national group picks one state lawmaker for the award every year.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed former Houston Oiler Matthew Cody Carlson of Austin to the Governor’s Advisory Council on Physical Fitness. Carlson is now a private investor.

Perry named Bob Barnes of Granbury (formerly of Odessa, where he ran for state office) to the board of the Texas Mutual Insurance Co. Barnes has a real estate and management company and is a former CEO of Schlotzsky's Ltd.

He named three to the State Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners: Dr. James Michael Lunsford of Katy; Dr. Joe Martin Jr., a podiatrist with the Scott and White Clinic of College Station; and James Michael Miller of Aledo, a retired Fort Worth police supervisor.

Speaker Craddick reappointed Kathleen Hartnett White to the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan Advisory Board. She's a former Texas Commissioner on Environmental Quality who now works at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an Austin-based think tank.

Deaths: U.S. District Judge Barefoot Sanders of Dallas, a one-time U.S. Senate candidate and three-term Texas state representative who presided over long and contentious lawsuits desegregating the Dallas public schools and overhauling state schools for mentally disabled Texans. He was 83.