It may be a bit early yet for your average Joe Six-Pack to be paying attention to campaigns, but bloggers are captivated by U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's gubernatorial announcement tour. Texas Democrats are making noise, too; town hall meetings on health care reform keep rolling on; and, Tom DeLay performs a grand jeté. Bringing up the rear, the latest legal news out of Freedom County and other items.
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I Do Declare
Lone Star Times has photos and audio from Hutchison's big debut in La Marque. Pondering Penguin was on hand for Hutchison's second stop in Houston. The blogger is officially backing Hutchison for governor, by the way. And here's the view from the Texas Observer's new Purple Texas blogger (who explains his raison d'être over here.)
Texas Politics, the Houston Chronicle's blog, has a video digest of Hutchison's announcement tour. The blogger also got his mitts on Hutchison's 1993 commercial on term limits (she's been saying Gov. Rick Perry is overstaying his welcome, see, while serving the third term she said she would never seek). Meanwhile, BurkaBlog really sticks it to the Hutchison campaign, saying it reminds him of a book about the 1962 New York Mets and that "The biggest thing she has going for her right now is that people aren't paying attention." (To be fair, he also says of Perry, " He is what he is: an ineffectual governor who is more interested in power than in policy.") But the Texas Observer's Contrarian has a more positive prediction for Hutchison, saying, "A Kay comeback lies ahead of us in the coming months."
KUT's Notes from the Lege compares the voting records of Texas' two U.S. Senators, placing Hutchison just a smidge to the left of John Cornyn. Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams tells the Dallas Morning News' Trail Blazers that he is actively seeking the U.S. Senate seat Hutchison hasn't given up yet. And Texas Watchdog spotlights a 28-year-old fundraiser for Gov. Rick Perry who's making big bucks this year.
It hasn't hit MTV yet, but Blue Dot Blues has a video of a supporter rapping about GOP gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina. It starts, "I was looking 'round Texas for political solutions, a candidate that would understand constitutional solutions... " and goes on from there.
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Out of the Blue
Democratic gubernatorial Tom Schieffer courted liberal bloggers over lunch. Brains and Eggs can't get past the whole Dubya thing. Greg's Opinion thinks Schieffer's biggest hurdle is money, but says, "I think there's room for me to like the guy." Off the Kuff points out that the group went Dutch and says he'll be happy to support Schieffer as the Democratic nominee, if he wins.
Burnt Orange Report reports that the Netroots Nation convention in Pittsburgh was simply fabulous. Burnt Orange also thinks it was terrific of Houston mayor Bill White to make the trip out there to boost his U.S. Senate campaign.
Texas Watchdog takes on Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, for not disclosing information on his law firm's business with local governments (until after they asked him for it). They're also going after Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, for the same sort of thing.
Dos Centavos is pumped after listening to Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, talk to a group of Democratic women about politics and education. Hochberg stresses the importance of keeping Rep. Kristi Thibaut, D-Houston, in office. He also says Democrats are gunning for the seats currently held by Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston, and Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving.
Former Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, is considering a rematch with current Rep. Chris Turner, D-Burleson, who defeated him 51-47 in 2008, according to the Dallas Morning News' Trail Blazers. And Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, posts photos of his trip to the White House on his Poli-Tex blog.
Here's something odd from Out West. A little birdie told Refuse the Juice that Rep. Marisa Marquez, D-El Paso, and her boyfriend beat up local politico Carlos Aguilar. Turns out that little birdie was wrong, wrong, wrong. Marquez and Aguilar just had a conversation: "That's it," says NewspaperTree.com Blog.
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Town Halls
Lone Star Times attended a couple of U.S. Rep. Gene Green's health care town hall meetings. The blogger watched a teenager confront a protestor and a larger, older man leaning on a cane get angry at Green. Looking back at a 2001 article about Green, the blogger says the congressman is being hypocritical by forcing attendees to show photo identification. And Houston Press's Hair Balls talks to Green about the meetings. "When I got there I was thinking 'This is theater,'" Green says.
Half Empty attended a less eventful health care town hall meeting in Sugar Land by U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, while Ellis County Observer has video of U.S. Rep. Joe Barton's forum.
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En Pointe
Lots of bloggers are having fun with the news that DeLay will appear on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" television show. "I'm not a huge fan of the show but you can bet your drunk ass that I'll be watching this time," says In the Pink, who's got more to say here.
Burka posts songs he thinks DeLay would want to dance to. Leading off the list, "If I Had a Hammer," by Pete Seeger. The Houston Chronicle's Texas on the Potomac has the dish on DeLay's dancing partner and his doubts about Pres. Barack Obama's country of origin. And Letters from Texas and Pink Dome let Photoshop do the talking, here and here.
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Freedom Ain't Free
Last week we relayed a post by Ellis County Observer about another attempt by U.S. Rep. Ron Paul supporters to establish a place of their own, called Freedom County. Apparently the landowner hasn't sold the land to anyone yet, and he's threatening to sue the blogger for copy-and-pasting the Freedom County advertisement.
KVUE's Political Junkie bids her readers goodbye as she heads for the Texas Tribune, but she promises the next Junkie blogger is going to be "awesome." In other Tribune-related news, In the Pink says adieu to the man who hired her, and he has his own farewell post here.
Tex Parte Blog spent the week listening in on arguments in the hearing regarding Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Sharon Keller, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Or check out the Austin American-Statesman's Focal Point blog, who was there, too.
Solicitor General Ted Cruz has received the support of Republican women leaders, notes Pondering Penguin. Meanwhile, the Statesman's First Reading sits down with fellow reporter Ken Herman and makes a podcast of their conversation. Texas Freedom Network turns 14 on Oct. 22 at Austin Music Hall, and there's going to be a party, according to TFN Insider.
Texas schools are receiving more than $10 billion in federal stimulus funds, Potomac says. And Ellis County Observer jumpstarts the completely unsubstantiated rumor mill on the retirement of Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, and begins speculation on who might replace him. (The short list includes "A female candidate of some sort.")
After a month-long hiatus from the blogosphere, North Texas Conservative returns to throw in his two cents on health care and the race for governor. And Grits for Breakfast's petition to institute an indigency program for the Department of Public Safety's Driver Responsibility surcharge program was denied, but he finds victory in defeat.
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.