This week, bloggers are revealing other people's stances on scads of subjects, and weighing in with their own opinions as well. They're also launching verbal assaults on various adversaries, reporting on political contests and showing their human side.

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Endor(s)eduplication

Burnt Orange Report posts on what folks are saying about each of the propositions. As for Burnt Orange themselves, they're voting "No" on Props One, Two, Three and 11 (and staying neutral on 10).

Young Conservatives of Texas gives a thumbs-down for the thumbs-up to Prop Four emailed out by UT-Dallas Pres. David Daniel, reports Blue Dot Blues. The right-wing youth group disputes the use of state resources to promote a ballot measure. Also from Blue Dot Blues: Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, doesn't like Props One, Four, Eight and Nine; the Heritage Alliance doesn't either, saying to toss out Props Three and Ten, too; Americans for Prosperity's Peggy Venable pooh-poohs Prop 11; plus further recommendations here.

Urban Grounds' two cents match the Heritage Alliance's, while TFN Insider disagrees with those who disagree with Prop Four. Meanwhile, Texas Watchdog weighs in on attorney-client privilege for government entities. (They don't like it.)

The Houston Chronicle's Texas Politics posts a list of Tarrant County folks supporting former Secretary of State Roger Williams. And mark down Ellis County Observer as a backer of GOP gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina. (Speaking of Medina, the Texas Observer's Purple Texas gives her credit for a recent statement on the death penalty.)

Gov. Rick Perry is A-OK with appointees soliciting donations for him, even though, as the Dallas Morning News' Trail Blazers notes, "As a candidate for state agriculture commissioner in 1990, Perry called for an investigation because a state regulator under his Democratic opponent was soliciting campaign contributions from those he regulated. The Perry camp called the practice "reprehensible.""

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On Offense

BurkaBlog slams Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst for an op-ed toeing the Perry line on federal stimulus funds and the state budget. Burka says, "There is no depth of cravenness so low that he will not seek it out in pursuit of self-promotion." He takes it back in the comments section, clarifying that what he meant to say was that Dewhurst "starts out with the best of motives, but he will sell out his own decency at the drop of a hat." Spinning off from that post, Burka talks about the need to raise the gas tax in Texas. "Burka is right," chimes in Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas. Elsewhere, the Austin American-Statesman's Postcards also casts doubts on Dewhurst's claims, though they avoid using discouraging words.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady delivered the official GOP radio rebuttal to Pres. Barack Obama's weekly address, saying, among other things, "The truth is: no jobs -- no recovery," according to the Houston Chronicle's Texas on the Potomac, who's got the whole transcript.

Former Pres. Bill Clinton told people in Edinburg that the New Yorker "got it wrong" on the high cost of health care in south Texas, according to A Capitol Blog. Meanwhile, Texas Freedom Network Insider calls out state school board member Don McLeroy for challenging the National Academy of Sciences and writing that Joseph McCarthy "was basically vindicated." And The Texas Cloverleaf questions whether gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman's political campaign is actually a sales campaign.

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Lo Contendere

Burka says Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, has the edge in the race to replace retiring Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, despite the message from GOP opponent Ben Bius's campaign. Naysayers in the Lege are just plain jealous, Burka adds in the comments section, saying, "Gattis is smarter, more handsome, and more ambitious than most of his colleagues, and they resent him for it." And the Austin Chronicle's newsdesk foresees bloody fields in Williamson County's House and Senate primaries. In the Austin area's congressional race, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul's opponent Democrat Jack McDonald has raised almost as much ($1 million) as 2008 challenger Larry Joe Doherty did throughout his whole campaign, newsdesk notes.

On this week's joint podcast, KUT's Notes from the Lege and Postcards talk about U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's "Flip Flop," the death penalty debate, balancing the state budget and the swine flu.

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Personal Effects

Texas Supreme Court Justice Wallace Jefferson keynoted an "Extraordinary Minorities in Texas Law" luncheon hosted by Texas Lawyer, Tex Parte Blog's parent. Meanwhile, A Capitol Blog's Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, applauds his brother Mark for his appointment to the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation. And Redneck Mother took a trip out to west Texas that included a sojourn to see 100 aluminum boxes in Marfa.

After a nine-month-long silence, Texas Kaos blogger refinish69 resumes his narrative about being "Homeless in Austin." Newspaper Tree may be on hiatus, but that doesn't stop NewspaperTree.com Blog from reporting on El Paso's exposé in Playboy magazine (link safe for work). And here's play-by-play of the R. Allen Stanford saga by Tex Parte.

The Sunshine Foundation slid a soapbox over to Watchdog, who took the opportunity to talk about Texas and Watchdog's work. The blogger also threw a couple of bones to the Statesman and Hair Balls. (We're sure they appreciate it.) And Potomac compiles a social media directory of its fellow Hearst entities.

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.

Switching parties is nothing new in Texas.

Ronald Reagan, a Democrat-turned-Republican himself, started the modern round of party switching in Texas. The new Republican president turned to two Texas Democrats in Congress in 1981 to pass his tax and budget plans. Their fellow Democrats turned cold shoulders to Phil Gramm and Kent Hance (and took away some of their privileges). Gramm quit Congress in 1983, announced he was changing parties, and then won the special election for the seat he had given up. That, he said, gave voters a chance to throw him out if they didn't like his choice.

The two were both on the ballot in 1984 — Hance as a Democrat, Gramm as a Republican — when John Tower's U.S. Senate seat came open. Hance lost the Democratic primary. Gramm beat Ron Paul in the Republican primary and then beat Lloyd Doggett in the general election (both Paul and Doggett are now members of Congress).

Hance switched parties in 1985, and lost the 1986 and 1990 Republican primaries for governor. He won the 1988 race for Railroad Commissioner in between — his only electoral success as a Republican — and is now the chancellor of Texas Tech University System.

There's at least one more thread in that story. In 1989, Gramm and others got a North Texas state representative to switch parties and then run against popular Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower. Gramm, a former Texas A&M economics professor, tapped a former yell leader from the school for that job: Rick Perry. Perry has held statewide office ever since that 1990 election, first as ag commissioner, then as lieutenant governor, and now as governor.

Other state reps jumped the fence in the 1980s, going from the donkey pen to the elephant yard: Charlie Evans of Fort Worth after the 1987 legislative session, Anita Hill of Garland after the 1981 session, Ray Keller of Duncanville after the 1981 session, and George Pierce of San Antonio after the 1981 session. The late Ric Williamson switched from the Democrats to the Republicans after the 1995 session.

The Legislature remained in Democratic control until the late 1990s, when Republicans began making inroads and Democrats started regularly losing statewide elections.

Warren Chisum of Pampa switched parties after the 1997 session, but stuck with House Speaker Pete Laney, a Democrat and fellow resident of the Panhandle, until Tom Craddick became speaker in 2003.

Kirk England of Grand Prairie jumped from the Republicans to the Democrats after one session in the Legislature, saying he felt Craddick and the Republicans were forcing him to vote the party line even when going the other way would be better for his district.

Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi served four terms as a Democrat, quit after the 1997 session to go home, practice law, and raise kids. He returned last year, after running as a Republican in 2008.

Delwin Jones of Lubbock served four terms in the 1960s and 1970s before losing a Democratic primary to Laney. He sat out for 16 years and ran — as a Republican this time — in 1989. He's still in the Legislature, and is seeking another term next year.

U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall switched parties in 2004, after redistricting changed the composition of his already conservative district. He'd been a candidate for years, with one of the most conservative voting records of any congressional Democrat. Hall took a long time, though; he was first elected to office, as a Democrat, in 1950, when he became Rockwall County Judge.

One that doesn't quite count, except as a story: Rep. Robby Cook, D-Eagle Lake, faced a number of tough elections, running as a conservative Democrat in a Republican district. Leading up to the 2004 race, he publicly considered leaving the Democrats for the Republicans, then decided not to run for reelection, then reconsidered and won reelection as a Democrat. He won again in 2006, and decided not to seek reelection in 2008. That's now a Republican seat.

Switching usually works in the next elections — see above — but it's hard on friendships and there's one cautionary tale that comes up whenever Texas pols are telling flipper stories. Greg Laughlin, a Democratic congressman from Victoria, won four elections as a Democrat and then switched to the Republican ticket before the 1996 race. He had all the endorsements and backing — including that of then-Gov. George W. Bush — but he lost the GOP primary to Ron Paul. The lesson, which Chuck Hopson is working on today, is that a flipper is most vulnerable in the first primary after the flip. You have to clear the field.

Rick Perry leads Kay Bailey Hutchison by 11 points in a new Rasmussen survey that's out this morning.That poll has Perry at 46 percent and Hutchison at 35 percent, with Debra Media getting the support of 4 percent of voters. One in seven voters didn't have a favorite. Most voters — 60 percent — think Hutchison should keep her job as U.S. Senator while she's running for governor. Hutchison has said she plans to resign to run, but that's now on hold as she waits to vote on pending health care reform plans. Only 26 percent said she should resign. As for health care reform, 76 percent strongly oppose "the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and the congressional Democrats." The telephone survey included 798 voters, was done on November 11 (Wednesday), and has a margin of error of 3.5 percent. The gubernatorial results are similar to those of The Texas Tribune Poll, released last week, which had the two leading candidates 12 points apart.