Bloggers squeezed out a week's worth of writing from the two-day special session of the Texas Legislature. Some of them are urging a former Democratic prosecutor to run for governor, talking about other potential candidates, taking TEA and doing things outside their own web pages. At the end, a courtroom shooting and other items.

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Special Verdict

KUT's Notes from the Lege has aural wrap-ups of Days One and Two of the two-day rendezvous. Here's the retrospective from newsdesk, the Austin Chronicle's blog. And A Capitol Blog shot video footage of the gavel clap signaling Sine Die.

Gov. Rick Perry's inclusion of Comprehensive Development Agreements, aka CDAs, aka public-private toll roads, in the special session gave U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison a prime political opportunity that she didn't take advantage of. BurkaBlog wonders, why not? The Houston Chronicle's Texas Politics blog has a debriefing on the private toll road bill that didn't make it. "It's time to hit the road," bill opponent Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, told the Dallas Morning News' Trail Blazers with a straight face, presumably.

House members took time to honor former Rep./U.S. Rep./Attorney General Jim Mattox, who died last November, according to Trail Blazers.

It cost about $66,000 for the two extra days of lawmaking, says PoliTex, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's blog. Before legislators met, Letters from Texas released a primer on special session behavior: "approximately 112 of you will be bored out of your minds, with absolutely nothing to do until a final floor vote. This is dangerous. Very. Very. Dangerous. In fact, it's so dangerous that this seems like the perfect time to remind everybody of the hapless Drew Nixon," he says.

And Grits for Breakfast gets around to compiling a list of criminal justice-related bills he likes that were passed by legislators during the Regular Session.

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His Name is Earle

Capitol Annex is on the forefront of an effort to draft former Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle for a run at the governor's office. Check out the announcement on the Annex blog, or visit DraftRonnie.com or a Facebook group devoted to the movement. Annex told himself he'd never try to draft another candidate again after the unsuccessful Rick Noriega for U.S. Senate campaign last year, but his reticence was overcome by just how swell he thinks Earle is.

Not only would Earle lose to any formidable opponent in the Democratic primary, he would have zero chance in the general election, says BurkaBlog. "He won't get a single Republican crossover vote," he says. McBlogger disagrees with Burka and revisits Earle's indictment of former state treasurer Hutchison and her subsequent acquittal. "So get on board or get the [bleep][bleep] out of the [bleeping] way," McBlogger says.

The Austin American-Statesman's Postcards looks at how the movements to draft Earle and Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, for governor are shaping up on Facebook.

Off the Kuff says he'll be happy so long as Democrats field reputable candidates in all the statewide races. On that note, Kuff has a rundown of Democrats who've been mentioned as possible contenders for the big offices.

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Other Goobers

Lone Star Times has a list of questions for GOP gubernatorial long shot Debra Medina. The Houston Chronicle's Texas on the Potomac has photos of Hutchison visiting troops in Iraq. And here's a one-minute primer on social media starring a bobble-head-type animation of Perry, from Texans for Rick Perry.

A quick online poll by the Texas Association of Businesses has Perry edging Hutchison 56 to 41 percent (with Democrats Tom Schieffer and Kinky Friedman each at one percent and some change). Memoirs from a young conservative thinks that's "AWESOME."

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TEA-ed Off

UrbanGrounds attended a TEA party in Austin and took photos and video. (We were there, too.) He says the event was ruined by the appearance of mainstream politicians like U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Gov. Perry, U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert and Rep. Wayne Christian. The Austin crowd booed Cornyn, reports Postcards, saying attendees of an earlier Austin party were much nicer to "Joe the Plumber."

A Lone Star Times reader sent in snapshots of the Houston gathering, which attracted a strong showing from politically opinionated dogs and nine-year-olds, among others, according to RightWingSparkle's photos.

Here's video of Perry speaking in Sulphur Springs, via his Texans for Rick Perry blog. And WalkerReport has photos from a party in Boerne that attracted more than 500 attendees.

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Blog Ogling

The blogger behind JohnCarterWatch is the newest member of the Eye on Williamson team. Former The Red State blogger has created an iPhone application that provides information on Texas legislators, like phone numbers, biographical details and things of this nature, according to Kuff. And Steinberg for Congress is calling it quits again, for good this time, the blogger promises.

Meanwhile, nonprofit news orgs across the nation, including Texas Watchdog and Texas Observer, have joined forces to make "The Pocantico Declaration: Creating a Nonprofit Investigative News Network," according to Watchdog.

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Mug Shot

A mock hostile takeover of a Collin County courtroom got a little too real for a judge who took a blank round to the eye, Tex Parte reports. Meanwhile, Grits looks at studies from the Urban Institute on released prisoners returning to Houston. A couple of highlights: drugs bad, families good. And Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, got his day in front of the Public Utilities Commission to argue for a moratorium on electricity disconnections. The PUC let him speak, but that was after commissioners had announced their decision against his petition, according to Burka.

Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, has a new communications director, according to NewspaperTree.com Blog. Meanwhile, Democratic gubernatorial explorer Mark Thompson's head of PR is his Twitter.com account, says Burnt Orange Report (shaking their virtual head in disbelief).

The Department of Public Safety needs to do something about the exorbitant burdens of its Driver Responsibility program, says Grits, adding that the Legislature has given DPS the authority to make the needed reforms.

Lone Star Times wants to give das boot to Harris County GOP chair Jared Woodfill. "Catering to a bunch of old white folk angry that life is passing them by and yelling about illegals and Hussein Obama isn't going to work," the blogger says.

Postcards looks over corrected ethics reports from Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, noting that she used campaign money to dine at Tex-Mex restaurants and pay sorority fees. And PoliTex remembers the time they interviewed new Minnesota U.S. Sen. Al Franken back in 2005, when he visited Austin to promote his Air America radio show.

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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.

Gov. Rick Perry raised $4.2 million for his reelection during the last nine days of June, and has $9.4 million on hand as that campaign gets underway. [UPDATED]Campaign finance reports are due next week (July 15), reflecting fundraising efforts during the six months ended June 30. Perry and other state officeholders are barred from raising money during a legislative session, for the 30 days leading up to it, and for the three weeks after a session during which a governor still yields a veto pen. But he shared a peek at his report, saying it'll show 1,076 people gave him $4.2 million — including $454,094 online — from June 21 to June 30. No dollar numbers yet from anyone else in the race for governor. And Perry released only the totals, saving the details of spending and of who gave how much for next week. Kay Bailey Hutchison's campaign issued a brief statement: "Kay Bailey Hutchison is proud of her strong statewide support, which is both broad and deep." By mid-week, Hutchison was Twittering (sending messages to followers on Twitter) about her fundraising: "98% of KBH’s money raised is from Texas. Texans TRULY appreciate and value results, not politics." ... "Nearly 80% of contributions to KBH were $500 or less! A TRUE outpouring of support for Kay’s vision for Texas!" This is a personal best for Perry during the truncated fundraising periods in legislative years. In 2007, he raised $881,488; in 2005, $2.3 million; in 2003, $272,771; and in 2001, $2.2 million. Both 2001 and 2005, like this year, were leading into election seasons. Why release it early? Let us speculate for a minute: Hutchison probably raised more money and if Perry let his number loose at the same time she did, he'd lose that day's headline contest. Also, Perry's release came a day before a scheduled conference call for Hutchison's finance team: That's gotta be discouraging.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is popping out a series of online videos in a new effort to use social media to promote her run for governor.

(You can click on each link or view the embedded videos at the bottom of this page.)

One: She's got 6,500 financial supporters (she didn't say what they've contributed, or what period that number of people covers).

Two: Donors by region of the state. The slogan appears for the first time: "Results. Not Politics."

Three: A towel-snap aimed at Gov. Rick Perry's derriere. Hutchison's video says Perry was against stimulus money publicly — in fundraising letters and speeches — while pleading for more of it in meetings with federal officials. And it closes with a tag you'll probably see later on TV: "Rick Perry: All you get is politics. Texas can do better. Kay Bailey Hutchison for Governor. Results. Not politics."

Mark Miner, a spokesman for Perry, said Hutchison's attack is hypocritical, since she voted against the funds she now says the state should accept. Plus, he said, it would be irresponsible to leave the education stimulus money on the table: "These are Texas taxpayer dollars and they would otherwise go to other states."

Perry convinced legislators to decline $556 million in unemployment insurance stimulus money, freeing that money for other states and increasing the size of an expected payroll tax increase next year. Miner says that was different, because the UI money came with federal strings attached. The education money, he said, does not.

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Rick Perry would beat Kay Bailey Hutchison handily in a Republican primary held right now, according to a poll done by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Politics project.

Registered voters in this poll who said they are likely to vote in the GOP primary favored the incumbent over the challenger 38 percent to 27 percent. (The margin of error on this part of the poll is 5.24 percent, since it's a subset of the full set of those surveyed). A quarter of GOP voters haven't made up their minds, and another 7 percent would favor another unnamed candidate.

Likely Democratic primary voters don't have a strong favorite but know one name better than the others. Kinky Friedman got 13 percent to 7 percent for Leticia Van de Putte (who has now said she won't run), and 3 percent for Tom Schieffer and 2 percent for Mark Thompson. Another 14 percent said they have another unnamed candidate in mind and 62 percent were undecided. (The Democratic section of the poll has a margin of error of +/- 6.05 percent.)

If Hutchison quits to run for governor, Democrat John Sharp and Republican David Dewhurst lead a pack that's chasing a huge — 62 percent — undecided vote. Sharp got 10 percent, Dewhurst got 9 percent, followed by Bill White, at 7 percent, Greg Abbott, at 6 percent, Florence Shapiro, 3 percent, and Elizabeth Ames Jones, Michael Williams, and Roger Williams, each at 1 percent.

The poll of 924 adults was conducted June 11-22 and (with the exception of the subsets for the primaries) has a margin of error of +/- 3.22 percent. You can see the full results, along with some charts, at the Texas Politics Project.

Asked a series of questions about words describing President Barack Obama, 70 percent said "intelligent" describes him well; 54 percent said "leadership" is a good description; and 45 percent said "honest" fits him. On that last one, 42 percent said "honest" does not describe him well. A third didn't like the "leadership" description for him. In this poll, 46 percent of Texans disapprove of the way Obama is doing his job as against 43 percent who approve. His handling of the economy gets worse marks: 51 percent disapprove, while 38 percent approve. Congress gets similarly bad marks: 20 percent approve of the job federal legislators are doing, and 58 percent disapprove. The poll included a presidential horse race question: In Texas right now, Obama would lose a reelection race to Republican Mitt Romney 39-34.

Two in five Texans said they approve "somewhat" or "strongly" of the job Perry has been doing as governor; 32 percent don't approve, and 28 percent don't lean one way or the other. The Legislature's approval ratings were 29 percent positive, 35 negative, and mainly neutral.

The respondents narrowly agree with the state's decision not to accept federal stimulus money for unemployment insurance. The Guv and the Lege turned down $555 million in federal money for that program; 43 percent agree with them, 36 percent disagree, and 21 percent didn't have a preference.

Public Policy

The biggest problem facing the country? The economy, with 29 percent, followed by federal spending/national debt, with 15 percent, and unemployment/jobs and political corruption/leadership, tied at 12 percent. A few issues — health care, immigration, national security, and moral decline — were in the 4 percent to 6 percent range. Others — gas prices, education, gay marriage, Afghanistan/Pakistan, Iraq, voting system, environment, crime — barely registered.

The most important problems in Texas were similar but immigration lead the list, at 18 percent, followed by the economy, 16 percent, and unemployment/jobs and border security, both at 13 percent.

Most — 69 percent — said the country is worse off economically than it was a year ago, but only 43 percent said that also applies to their personal and family financial standing. And 82 percent said poverty is a "big problem" or "somewhat of a problem."

• More Texans oppose (41 percent) than support (33 percent) the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.

• They support reinstating legislative control over tuition rates at state colleges and universities (54 percent to 23 percent).

• They strongly support deputizing local police and sheriff's deputies to enforce federal immigration laws (61 percent to 27 percent).

• Requiring Photo IDs from voters is a winner with 70 percent; only 17 percent oppose it.

• Most Texans would allow expanded gambling in some form (full casinos, 40 percent; expansion in existing locations only, 13 percent; expansion on Indian reservations only, 7 percent), while only 18 percent would leave the law as is and only 10 percent would ban gaming altogether.

• A third of Texans don't think gays and lesbians should have the right to marry or join in civil unions, but 29 percent favor the right to marriage and another 32 percent favor the right to civil unions.

• Texans favor a ban on smoking in most places by a two-to-one margin (63 percent to 31 percent).

State education officials want to spend federal stimulus money on across-the-board teacher pay raises, but local school officials say federal rules bar the state from making that decision for them.

And their diverse plans have a common problem, spending one-time federal money on educator pay, an ongoing expense. Either state or local school taxpayers will have to finance those larger payrolls once the federal money is gone.

Last week, Gov. Rick Perry applied for the first part of $4 billion in federal stimulus money available for Texas education. Aides say he's been assured the state is getting the money, and soon. But some local officials are balking at the state's attempts to tell them how the federal dollars should be spent. Officials with the Texas Association of School Boards say the districts aren't against raises, but want local flexibility the state doesn't want to extend.

State officials want that money to fund $800 pay raises for teachers — salary boosts that were approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor. But the regulations around that stimulus money give the spending discretion to local school officials.

The difference, really, is that state lawmakers voted for across the board raises of at least $800 (estimates are that average educators would get raises of $900 to $1,000, depending on what districts they're in). Local officials would probably give raises, too, but would prefer, in some cases, to vary the size of the pay hikes to encourage, say, teachers in tougher schools to stay put, or to attract and retain employees. Also, the state version of the raises would only apply to "each classroom teacher, full-time speech pathologist, full-time librarian, full-time counselor, and full-time school nurse." Some districts might want to give raises to office staff, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, part-timers, and others not directly involved in educating kids.

"It's a false issue to say districts are not going to spend money on teachers," says J. David Thompson, a Houston attorney who represents school districts around the state. "... but the state is trying to jump in and add a mandate."

Officials at the Texas Education Agency say the Legislature directed school districts to spend the money on the one-size-fits-all pay raises. And they say the only decision left is whether they can do that with the federal money or have to use local funds for the raises and the federal funds for other spending. That's not exactly what the Legislature said, though. In HB 3646, lawmakers said Education Commissioner Robert Scott has to decide the federal funds can be used for pay increases before the districts can increase salaries.

Either way, TEA and the local districts are waiting to see whether federal officials will allow the stimulus money to be used for pay hikes. And the districts want to see whether the feds allow the state to tell the locals what to do. And in two years, both will be trying to figure out whether the resulting payrolls are funded by state or local taxpayers, or some combination.

Texas Republicans are starting a critical election cycle with a gaggle of competing political action committees, a muddle that could hamper efforts to hang onto the slimmest possible majority in the Texas House.

House Speaker Joe Straus III wants a second term and the Republicans want to keep control of the chamber next year. In 2011, lawmakers will draw new political districts for the state's congressional, Senate, House, and State Board of Education candidates. If Republicans lose the House, they'll lose a critical piece of redistricting machinery. If they hold their majority, they'll have a chance to draw maps that help them keep control of state government well into the century's second decade.

Straus has said he won't work against sitting members of the Legislature, from either party. He's a Republican, and he wants more Republicans in the House, but he's not going to oppose any Democrats who are already there.

His political action committee, which will spring into being this summer, will help Republicans running in open seats and Republicans defending their current seats.

GOPAC Texas ­— the state branch of a venerable federal effort that predated Ronald Reagan's rise to power — will focus on seats now held by Democrats that Republicans think they can flip to their column. On paper, that doesn't look so hard — 22 of the House's 74 Democrats represent districts that voted for Republicans in statewide contests during the last two election cycles.

Another PAC, forming with guidance from congressional and statehouse Republicans, would target all of those races — challenge seats, open seats, and defense seats.

So, apparently, would a political action committee started by the Republican Party of Texas. That has the advantage of lower mail rates that are available to the political parties but not to outside PACs and candidates. It has a disadvantage, too: Many officeholders in the GOP hold the state party in remarkably low esteem.

And they've got several ways to do their politicking without the party's help. Straus is the speaker; that's a no-brainer for Republican members. GOPAC Texas is headed by Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, and fellow members of the House's Conservative Caucus. Some in the Straus camp grumble that the GOPAC group is full of supporters of former House Speaker Tom Craddick — the guy Straus knocked off — they're still House members. The congressional/statehouse effort has a number of state representatives in the boardroom, including Dan Gattis of Georgetown, Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills, Harvey Hilderbran of Kerrville, Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham, and Larry Phillips of Sherman.

Those are all, if you'll forgive the pun, in-house efforts that members feel they can control. One advantage to outside efforts like GOPAC is that members who don't contribute and don't help in the operations can maintain their good relationships with Democratic colleagues. It's hard to smack someone in the head in November and then get their help on legislation in the session that follows. Possible, but uncomfortable. Consultant-driven PACs protect members from that sort of thing, to some extent, but often come apart when good capitalism and good politics collide. It might be politically stupid to cut another commercial or drop another round of mail, but it's profitable. It's a balancing act.

That's an opening for the Associated Republicans of Texas, a PAC that's been around since John Tower was the only Republican in statewide office. Pat Sweeney Robbins, who runs that operation, says they'll do what they always do: Try to put more Republicans in the statehouse. She's happy to have help, but worries about so many PACs crowding into an election season that will end with fewer than a dozen seats seriously contested. "Each group has their own issues. It confuses the heck out of contributors," she says.

ART has also focused in the past on Senate seats, but most watchers don't think any of those will be seriously competitive this year. In fact, Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston is spending his time working with GOPAC to try to win some House seats for the Republicans.

The new committees are just getting started. Don't expect to see big war-chests when campaign finance reports are filed next week. In January — when reports for the second half of the year are due — it'll be apparent who successfully appealed to the Republican money folks, and who whiffed.