The Midday Brief: May 7, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

"The Republican Party’s best-connected political operatives have quietly built a massive fundraising, organizing and advertising machine based on the model assembled by Democrats early in the decade, and with the same ambitious goal — to recapture Congress and the White House." — Karl Rove, Republican Party plot vast network to reclaim power — Politico

“Texas is about to become IBM's test subject for a series of telematics transportation technologies with the blessing the U.S. Department of Transportation. IBM Chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano plans to announce the news in Houston on Wednesday at the 20th annual meeting of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA 2010), along with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Texas Transportation Institute Director Dennis Christiansen.” — Texas to be U.S. transportation testing ground — CNET

"Mike Brown, the former head of FEMA during the Hurricane Katrina fiasco, has been using the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to sell some book he's written and to promote his business." — Does anybody care what “Heckuva Job Brownie” thinks of the oil spill? — Texas on the Potomac

An audio slide show of images of former first lady Laura Bush and the town that shaped her. — Where She’s From — Texas Monthly

New in the Texas Tribune:

Yesterday, Perry's campaign sent out a release promising a "important campaign announcement" today at 2 p.m. Now we know, according to a Perry spokesperson, that the governor will reveal the endorsements of a mostly Democratic group of thirty current and former elected officials from the traditionally blue Rio Grande Valley in Mission, where he’s traveling for a prayer luncheon honoring yesterday's National Day of Prayer. — 2010: South Texans for Perry

Lawmakers and state employees are getting trained in CPR and defibrillator use today — almost a year after Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin, suffered a heart attack and collapsed in a Capitol elevator. He was saved by his colleague, Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond, an anesthesiologist who resuscitated him with CPR.  — TribBlog: Capitol CPR

More than 30 religious, immigration and environmental advocacy groups sent a letter to Democratic U.S. Senate leaders Thursday calling on them to oppose a Republican measure to build more fencing on the southern border. — TribBlog: Advocacy Groups Say 'No' to More Border Fence

Earlier this week, the Rick Perry campaign released a web spot including unflattering photos of Democrat Bill White - White with a crying baby, White with Middle Eastern businessmen, White with... Yao Ming. I asked y'all why you thought Yao was in there, and got these responses:KPRC-TV in Houston took the "Why Yao" question straight to Gov. Rick Perry, and to Yao's agent (no response yet). — HuTube: What's Happening Yao