Bloggers posted in post-postmodern fashion this week, turning their attention to the intersection of reality and that series of tubes called the Internet. They're also investigating legal problems facing judges and attorneys, commenting on presidential campaigning in Texas and showing off pictures of stuff. Capping it off is some miscellany.

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You've Got Mail

Check out e-mails from Gov. Rick Perry's office at this link via KVUE's Political Junkie, who's been chronicling the saga since the beginning. The latest installment of "The Purge," found here, has our ears burning (and so does this Burnt Orange Report post). Others snooping through the messages include Texas Observer Blog and Fort Worth Star Telegram's blog PoliTex. And Political Junkie profiles another "freedom-fightin' computer geek..."

In the Pink Texas pimps her new column and a new blog about national politics at TexasMonthly.com. Meanwhile the Texas Monthly online and print editions laud Off the Kuff's Charles Kuffner as one of the "35 People Who Will Shape Our Future." (The list also includes Texas Youth Commission Ombudsman Will Harrell, via Grits for Breakfast, as well as, inexplicably, rapper Chamillionaire, for some reason...)

Break a rule, that's a paddlin'. Burnt Orange lays down the laws for the privilege of posting at the site here, here, here, here, here and here. And Austinist puts out a casting call.

Over at Annex, State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, hops on the virtual bandwagon with this guest blog blasting state leaders and high court judges. And one of the Professors-R-Squared put his mouth where his fingertips are by offering expert testimony at the House Elections Committee meeting on photo voter ID and fraud. Annex wonders if this is a first for bloggerkind.

The downlow on those who read Grits, from Grits. And Right of Texas has brand new digs. Meanwhile, Mike Falick's Blog features a trio of online time burglars dealing with printers, comic strips and historical images. In other news, Doctors will be spreading viruses this year that will stuff e-mail inboxes with endorsements of five incumbent state legislators, says Trail Blazers, the Dallas Morning News's blog.

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Bar Tending

There's an e-mail floating around in Harris County urging "defense attorneys to boycott pleading out any cases on Thursday, January 31st to protest the sexist and racist administration of [District Attorney] Chuck Rosenthal," according to the writer of Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center, who suggests that clients might want to be consulted first.

Here's a pithy, informative post from Defending People: The Art and Science of Criminal Defense Trial Lawyering: "Apparently the difference in Chuck Rosenthal's pension if he leaves now and if he leaves after completing his second term is something on the order of $90,000. A year." Also from Defending People, some more reasons why Rosenthal ain't going nowhere.

"[A] new kind of three shell game is going on" in the non-indictment of Supreme Court Justice David Medina and wife Francisca, says Half-Empty. Meanwhile, musings argues that Medina should be brought up before the Texas Ethics Commission for breaking campaign finance rules.

Sex offenders getting screwed (and someone ought to put a stop to it), reports The Defense Perspective, who also offers some scenarios in which the best move is to make your own client take a lie detector test. And Tex Parte Blog congratulates the winners of the State Bar of Texas's YouTube contest.

Capitol Annex has a look-see at Supreme Court candidate Linda Yañez's finance reports, noting that she spends about $2,200 per year "dining" at restaurants, hundreds for unspecified "travel expenses" and once dished out $162.36 at J.C. Penney's for "campaign materials."

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A Chill in Hell

So you're saying there's a chance? Posts like these on the Texas presidential primary from Half-Empty and Houtopia remind us of a certain scene from Dumb and Dumber.

A dozen-or-so Houston Democrats traveled to South Carolina to help out presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, says Trail Blazers. It didn't work.

Mike Huckabee's a'comin' to Austin, says Postcards, while Perry's a'gone to Florida for Rudy Giuliani, says PoliTex. And Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney will be a'dinin' in Fort Worth in February, reports PoliTex.

Dan Grant, who's facing Texas Justice's Larry Joe Doherty in CD-10's Democratic primary, did indeed advise 2004 Presidential nominee John Kerry on foreign policy matters, confirms the Statesman's blog Postcards from the Lege, which also has something on the contest in HD-148.

WWJPD stands for "What Will Jerry Patterson Do?" now that the Land Commissioner's presidential endorsee Fred Thompson has officially dropped his GOP presidential bid, reports Trail Blazers. (More from Postcards here.)

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Imaging All the People

A photograph of a chupacabra taken by lobbyist Robert Floyd (*insert blood-sucking joke here*) made it into the pages of the Austin American-Statesman, says Capitol Crowd, who also profiles Alyssa Eacono, chief of staff for state Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas.

Do public surveillance cameras reduce crime? Color Grits skeptical. Meanwhile, Burnt Orange has video of Noriega's "I've Had Enough Speech," while Observer has an item on the House Elections meeting on photo voter ID. And here's the trailer for an upcoming documentary on the T. Don Hutto Immigration Detention Facility, courtesy of Grits.

Meanwhile, Cd22watcher continues their coverage of the congressional race here, here, here, here and here. Two highlights are that GOP candidate Pete Olson is the outer of the fake photo of Dean Hrbacek ("Shame on Pete. This coming from a candidate that has been using a 9-year-old photo of himself...") and that Roll Call thinks Shelley Sekula-Gibbs will win the GOP primary. (That makes one.)

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Dross and Datum Spree

Looks like House District 17 candidate Latreese Cooke, a Democrat, "has a long criminal record," says Burnt Orange. More on HD-17 here. And Kuff interviews HD-27 candidate Ron Reynolds.

The Young Conservatives of Texas are calling out HD-67 Republican John Cole for possible push polling, to Annex's surprise. Meanwhile, LaRhonda Torry's back on the Democratic primary ballot in HD-147. She's facing incumbent Garnet Coleman, says Kuff.

Tax cuts all around (for property owners), House Speaker Tom Craddick proposes to the Texas Association of Businesses, according to Texas Politics, the Houston Chronicle's blog. Any enemy of Craddick is a friend of many El Paso lawmakers, reports the El Paso Times's blog Vaqueros & Wonkeros. Maybe that's because of Craddick's opposition to the Texas Tech medical school in El Paso, ponders BurkaBlog.

The Texas Youth Commission is looking for a permanent executive director, reports Grits, who also offers a county-by-county analysis of racial disparities in incarceration rates of drug offenders.

The AFL-CIO isn't backing a soul in the race for Railroad Commissioner, says Texas Politics. Meanwhile, incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn is destroying Democrats in terms of fundraising, reports Trail Blazers, cautioning that it's a little early for Cornyn to be counting chickens, though.

San Antonio preacher John Hagee tells Florida pastors to instruct parishioners to stand up and be counted during church, in order to embarrass them into voting, says Trail Blazers. And a faith-based private prison is facing opposition in Fannin County, says Texas Prison Bid'ness.

Yes, Texas, there are nearly 580,000 gay people in the Lone Star State, including 50,000 gay couples, one-fifth of whom are raising children, say UCLA researchers, via The Texas Cloverleaf.

This edition of Out There was compiled and written by Patrick Brendel, who hails from Victoria and finds Austin's climate pleasantly arid. 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.

If November's the month for the special election to replace Sen. Kyle Janek, Texas House members will have to decide whether they want to give up their current jobs for a chance at his.

If the special election is in May, they get a freebie: Win, and they go to the Senate. Lose, and they keep their House seats.

Janek initially planned to leave office in early March, which would set up the May 10 special election. But the candidate he recruited turns out to live in another Senate district. And then some folks at home raised concerns about voter burnout if there are elections in March, runoffs in April, elections in May and more runoffs possible in June.

He then said he'd resign a little later, on June 2, pushing the special election to November.

Officials with the Secretary of State's office say that would bar House members who want Janek's seat from simultaneously running for reelection (the first two names in that hat are Reps. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, and Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land). They'd have until mid-August (the 22nd) to get off the ballot and their parties would have until the 29th to replace them for the November House elections.

Another twist: If they or any other House members drop off the ballot, and if they're the only ones on board, their parties would get to name replacements and so would the opposition. Howard, if he wins his primary, won't have a Democratic opponent in November. But if he wins and then decides to run for Senate, both the Republicans and the Democrats would have a chance to put someone in his House race.

The Senate's interim assignments are out.Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst released the 26-page list of pre-session assignments that can frame legislation on some of the big issues facing the state. Here's the list, in downloadable form. And so you have it, the list released by House Speaker Tom Craddick in three parts last year.

Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. And Part 3 is here.

A day after Rudy Giuliani dropped out of hte race for the GOP presidential nomination, Gov. Rick Perry said he — like Giuliani — will support U.S. Sen. John McCain. Perry admitted he doesn't agree with McCain on some issues, but said his first priority is fighting the war on terror and that McCain is the best candidate for that job. "He and I may not agree on every issue," Perry said. "But we do agree that this country cannot flinch when it comes to the war against Islamic terrorists." Perry held his announcement for a day so he wouldn't step on Giuliani's endorsement on Wednesday. That lands him in the story with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who's also endorsing the Arizona senator. Perry said his initial choice of Giuliani over McCain was a difficult one to make. He said he "truly enjoyed working with" the former New York City mayor. He said he's known McCain for some time and that "it was a pretty short step for me to get from where I was 90 days ago to where I am now." Perry took flak from some conservatives for endorsing Giuliani, whose positions on gun laws, abortion and other issues don't sit well with socially conservative Republicans. McCain, too, has been at odds with that part of the GOP. Asked about it, Perry repeated his line about terrorism as the top issue, and said the rest of those candidate positions don't represent any change in his own views. "I certainly haven't changed my conservative beliefs... I'm just as conservative as I was five years ago and as I will be in five years," he said. And he said he likes what McCain has been saying about trying to hold the line on federal spending if he's elected. What does he say to Republicans who are worried about McCain's politics? "Two words," Perry said. "Hillary Clinton." Asked what a Clinton presidency would mean, he added: "To hell in a handbasket would probably not be a good quote, but that's what comes to mind." He has no plans to campaign with McCain before Super Tuesday next week, but said the two will probably make a trip together to the Texas-Mexico border to talk about security and immigration. In a half-hour press conference in his office, Perry also said he thinks the presidential races will probably be all but over by the time Texans vote in March. "I suspect that on Wednesday morning [the day after Super Tuesday], there's not going to be much of a field left." He said Texas would have mattered more if disagreements over local officials and resign-to-run laws hadn't prevented the Legislature from moving the primary to Super Tuesday. Perry said the state's economy is healthy. There are economic clouds elsewhere, but he said Texas is growing twice as fast as the national economy and said "most governors would dearly love to have the Texas economy in their own states." He'll support a proposed federal economic stimulus package that sends money directly to taxpayers, but disagrees with proposals to send some or all of that money through state governments. "Flowing the money through state bureaucracies is not the most efficient way to do that," he said. He said his office deletes emails after a week, but keep the records that really matter. He warned against making the government "a repository of 'I gotcha' emails". And he said the Legislature isn't likely to change things: "I imagine you'll get that changed right after you get their records," he said. Perry backed away from enhanced drivers' licenses he earlier supported. It turns out that federal IDs are available that cover the same concerns without costing the state any money. An aide said later that his office was leaning toward the federal papers.

From the sidelines, a handful of state judges could shake up the elections for their colleagues on the field.

Judges on the state's two high courts are mired in bad news involving the death penalty, arson, tampering with evidence, and using campaign funds, illegally, for private travel. The jurists generating the headlines aren't on the ballot this year, but colleagues who are up for reelection could suffer just the same. Judicial races are down-ballot affairs and voters sometimes know more about the party they're for or the headlines they've seen than about the people whose names are on the ballot.

Voters will get a shot at six statewide judges in 2008. Only one, Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Paul Womack, has a primary opponent. Another, Judge Cathy Cochran of that same court, faces only a Libertarian opponent. The other four — Supreme Court Justices Wallace Jefferson, Dale Wainwright, and Phil Johnson, and Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Tom Price — will face Democratic opponents in November.

The common denominator is that they're all Republicans — it's like a private party over there. Fingers are crossing on the Democratic and Libertarian sides that voters will link the party with the recent messes. The GOP candidates are hoping this too shall pass.

Most voters don't pay attention to the judicial elections; they check a box for the party and not the person. Max Sherman, a former state senator, and dean of the LBJ School at the University of Texas, says that the general public doesn't have much reason to pay attention to these races, but those in the legal community certainly have their eyes and ears open. "They don't want to see the court under any cloud," Sherman says.

Here's what the GOP candidates have to worry about:

Last month, Supreme Court Justice David Medina and his wife were indicted (she for arson, he for tampering with evidence) in connection with a fire that destroyed their home in Spring. Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said there isn't enough evidence and asked a court to dismiss the indictment.

Rosenthal has his own trouble. He hasn't been able to escape the media microscope after the discovery of e-mails — covering the trifecta of pornography, racism and politics — sent from his office computer. He's not resigning, but he won't be running for DA again.

Medina and two of his Supreme Court colleagues, Justices Paul Green and Nathan Hecht, have also been accused of using campaign money for personal travel. The San Antonio Express-News reported Medina reimbursed himself for travel with about $57,000 from his campaign. The judge told the paper his accountant gave him the green light on that one, and that he intends to pay the money back to the campaign.

Texas Watch, a self-appointed watchdog group, filed a complaint with the Ethics Commission saying Green used campaign contributions to pay for trips to and from his home in San Antonio. Hecht is dealing with an ongoing investigation of a similar nature. Texas Watch says Hecht spent almost $10,000 on travel between Austin and Dallas last year, and they've complained to the ethics regulators about it. Hecht said he was meeting with his supporters, according to the Express-News. He's not on the ballot until 2012.

Wainwright, the incumbent for Place 7 on the Supreme Court, is on the ballot this year. He says voters will reelect all three incumbents.

"I'm confident the people of Texas will understand we've done a good job, not perfect, but we've done a good job," says Wainwright. "There's going to be an attempt to sully the court as an institution... but I believe the people of this state will evaluate the facts, separate from suggestion and innuendo."

Johnson, Place 8, isn't sure how the public will react, but he doesn't think the bad news helps. "It's a civic duty to find out about the candidates and look at their individual qualifications," Johnson says. He says its hard to get the public "fired up" for these elections and although he wants more public interest, he says "I don't want the public to become interested only in the negative."

Others hope the public stays interested, like Susan Criss of Galveston, one of Johnson's Democratic opponents. "We've been campaigning on the need for change and when these stories are in the paper, it emphasizes that what we're saying is true," Criss says. She adds that while most people don't know the names of any judges before they vote, there has been enough bad press lately to make a change. "There's too much of it affecting too many of them," Criss says. "I think people will find a pattern," she adds. "We've been in Bush's Texas for too long and they've been bragging about it for years."

Jim Jordan is a Dallas Democrat running against Chief Justice Jefferson. "I think it's exposing the problems we have when we have a one party state," he says. "People don't want to have politics in the courtroom." Jordan says he thinks this could get more people interested in the election.

But even the courtroom can't escape politics if voters continue with party loyalties. Former Chief Justice Tom Phillips says "the judicial elections are almost a pure measure of party loyalty" and that it would be "an extremely unusual situation" for voters to turn their backs on their party.

Beaumont Libertarian Tom Oxford, running against Jefferson, says it's unfortunate Medina, Green and Hecht aren't on the ballot. "It doesn't bode well for the Republican party... it tries to present itself as the morality party, a position I've never bought." While Oxford admits a Libertarian doesn't have much chance in statewide race, he predicts some shifts in party loyalties from voters. "The public pays attention when a Supreme Court justice is accused of burning his house down for financial gain," he says [editor's note— Medina's house was uninsured, and there's no indication his home was burned down for financial reasons].

The problems aren't confined to the state's highest civil court. They started with its twin on the criminal side. Sharon Keller, chief judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, started that fire last September when she refused to accept an appeal minutes after her office closed. As a result, convicted murderer Michael Richard was executed that night.

Cochran, the incumbent for Place 9 on that appellate court, doesn't think Keller's decision will affect her campaign, but she says any negative media about other judges is a concern for the system. "Anytime any of us hit the press, we all get nervous." She says the public should still have faith in the judicial system — and that the media should focus on educating the public on the system as a whole, not "the scandal du jour."

— by Karie Meltzer

• Texas Libertarians will convene in Fort Worth on June 13-15 to pick their candidates from 200 contenders. They don't hold primaries. They start with precinct conventions in March and work up to the state meet-up.

• The state's best-funded political action committee — that'd be the fund tied to the Texas Association of Realtors — endorsed 36 primary candidates for the state House and Senate. They exemplify the "friendly incumbent rule" — the Realtors went for incumbents in every office that had one, putting new names on the list only in open seats.

• The Texas Association of Business' PAC did its endorsements, sticking mostly with incumbents and Republicans. That group's list of endorsements for Congress, the Senate, and the Texas House includes five Democrats out of 71 races in which the group made an endorsement.

• Larry Joe Doherty says he raised $151,115 during the fourth quarter of 2007 for his race against U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin. Doherty faces Dan Grant in the Democratic primary. Doherty reported cash on hand of $267,475 at year-end.

• U.S. Sen. John Cornyn raised $1.7 million during the fourth quarter and ended the year with $7.5 million in his campaign account.

• The Tejano Democrats endorsed Hillary Clinton, Rick Noriega and Art Hall, for president, U.S. senator and Texas Railroad Commissioner, respectively. That group's chairman is former state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin.

• The folks with the Eddie Saenz campaign say their luck's not as bad as their opponent thinks. We got word from the other side that Saenz has to go to court before the primaries on a DWI charge. Not so: His hearing is on March 20. Saenz is challenging Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, in HD-40.

• Rep. Thomas Latham, R-Mesquite, picked up an endorsement from former Rep. Elvira Reyna — the woman he defeated in 2006 to win his place in the House.

• Congressional candidate Chris Peden has a place on his website where browsers can endorse him, and apparently the editors don't watch a lot of TV. One of the endorsements — spotted by someone young that we know who apparently does watch too much TV — is from one Rusty Shackleford, a pest control manager in Galveston. That's a character on King of the Hill. For what it's worth, the guy on the website says he supports Peden, who's running against U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Surfside, in CD-14.