Combs, Sklar, Williams, McMurrey, Peña, and JanekComptroller Susan Combs, on the new business tax being collected for the first time this year: "There will be something unexpected. You always expect that."

Shane Sklar, a Democrat who lost a congressional race against Ron Paul, talking to the San Antonio Express-News about Paul's appeal as a presidential candidate: "There are people who felt they've never had a place in the political process and here's a chance for them, as they see it, to get behind something with meaning."

Former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, quoted in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on the theory that Republicans might find their motivation to vote on the other side of the presidential ballot: "If we need Hillary Clinton to energize the party, we're in pretty bad shape."

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Ray McMurrey, quoted by the Associated Press, defending a low-budget bid for statewide office by comparing himself with Victor Morales, who won a Democratic primary in 1996 with little money and a lot of free press coverage: "What I'm doing is not impossible. It has been done."

Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, quoted in the McAllen Monitor after accepting contributions from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, who's usually with the Republicans: "I'm in the middle of a war. If somebody wants to hand me a load of bullets, I'm not going to turn them down."

Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, surrounded by his family while announcing he'll resign from the Senate in June: "I've had a great 13 years here at the Capitol. I showed up with no wife, no kids, no gray hair, no glasses and no hearing aid. Now, look at me."