If campaign finance reports are a show of strength, House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, is making a muscle. He'll report holding cash balances of around $3 million in his two accounts, and another $205,000 in the Texas House Leadership Fund that was set up by him and some of his chairs to hold and grow the GOP majority in the House. We haven't seen or heard the amounts yet, but his reports — according to someone who has seen them — will show donations to incumbents and to Republicans running in open seats. Straus has said he won't campaign against incumbent Democrats. Gov. Rick Perry's crew has been trying to shape expectations, telling reporters that he had an expensive primary and that his opponent, Democrat Bill White didn't. That sets up well, if you take the hook, whatever his numbers are: If he's got more money than White, he jumped a hurdle; if he didn't, well, there was a hurdle. The early tips from the White campaign, meanwhile, are that he's had more than 16,000 supporters since he declared for governor in early December, that three-quarters of those gave $100 or less, and that he'll have 11,700 newbies in the June 30 report that will be made public later today.

Democrat Bill White raised more money than Republican Rick Perry and had $3.1 million more in the bank than the governor at mid-year, according to their campaign finance reports.Perry raised $7.1 million from his last report through June 30, bringing his campaign's cash on hand at mid-year to $5.9 million. That's less raised and less on hand than Democratic challenger Bill White is showing in his mid-year report; White raised $7.4 million and ended the period with $9 million in the bank — $3.1 million more than the incumbent. Perry's campaign notes that their candidate had a financially competitive primary, and their spin on the mid-year numbers is evident in the headline on their press release: "Texans for Rick Perry Raises Over $20 Million for ’09-’10 Election Cycle." Perry has a total of 14,837 contributors during that period, and also raised $1.2 million of his total online. White's campaign says more than 16,000 people have contributed so far, more than three-quarters of them giving $100 or less. The reports due today cover the period ending June 30. If you had doubts, that foretells a well-financed governor's race on both sides. The heavy spending won't start for several weeks, but keep this (loose) rule of thumb in mind: It costs about $1.5 million a week to run television ads in the volume that moves votes in Texas elections. Both candidates have millions now, but they'll need more. The next reports are due 30 days before the November elections.

Gov. Rick Perry leads Democrat Bill White 50-41 in the latest poll from Rasmussen Reports. That's comparable to the 48-40 split the same pollsters reported last month, and with the exception of April (when they were four points apart), it's about where Rasmussen has had this race all year.According to Rasmussen, 55 percent of Texans approve of the job Perry is doing as governor. And he's leading White with men, with women, and with independents, according to the survey. Perry is regarded "very favorably' by 17 percent of voters and "very unfavorably" by 20 percent. The corresponding numbers for White are 24 percent and 18 percent. More than half of the respondents (51 percent) rated the economy as "poor" and only 12 percent rate it as good or excellent. Two-thirds oppose the federal health care bill, and about that many disagree with the U.S. Justice Department's decision to challenge the Arizona immigration law (Texas has joined other states opposing Justice on that issue). Rasmussen polled 500 Texans on Tuesday, July 13. The poll's margin of error is +/- 4.5 percent.