Karen Hughes and Gordon Johnson are going to work as "strategic counselors" to Texas House Speaker Joe Straus.

Hughes is a former U.S. Ambassador, counselor to President George W. Bush and spokeswoman for then-Gov. Bush. She's now an exec with Burson-Marsteller. Johnson is an Austin lawyer and lobbyist; he'll drop his lobbying clients to keep Straus out of hot water on that front. Both he and Hughes will be employed by Texans for Joe Straus and not for the State of Texas.

Rob Johnson, chief of staff to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, will leave that job to run Gov. Rick Perry's reelection campaign.Perry is gearing up for a race against challenger and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Both are using imported talent at the top: Her campaign manager, Rick Wiley, is from Wisconsin. Johnson is from Arkansas (and Perry's lead consultant, Dave Carney, is from New Hampshire). Perry also named a number of other staffers: Kevin Lindley will be campaign director; he'd been at the Republican Party of Texas. Krystle Kirchmeyer Alvarado, who worked on Perry's 2002 and 2006 campaigns, will be finance director. David White, whose most recent employer was Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, will be political director. And Sarah Floerke, who's been Perry's director of community affairs, will be the campaigns organization director. Johnson ran Dewhurst's last campaign, but this might keep him out of the next one. Dewhurst could be a candidate for U.S. Senate within the next year, if Hutchison decides to quit early — as she's told supporters she'll do — and if Dewhurst decides to run for what would then be an open seat. Barring that, he's up for reelection in 2010. Either way, he's gonna need someone to fill Johnson's shoes.

Republican Attorney General candidate Ted Cruz popped out a list of supporters — separate from the list of donors he plugged recently. His list:

Statewide Leadership Team

Cathie Adams, Texas Eagle Forum, president; RNC National Committeewoman

Ernie Angelo, former RNC national committeeman; former Mayor of Midland

David Barton, Wallbuilders, president; former vice chairman, Republican Party of Texas

Penny Butler, former RNC national committeewoman

George P. Bush, Maverick PAC of Texas

Victor Carrillo, chairman, Texas Railroad Commission

Kaye Goolsby, former vice president, Texas Federation of Republican Women; Texans for Ted Cruz, Statewide Grassroots chairman

Tim Lambert, Texas Home School Coalition, president

Denise McNamara, Former RNC national committeewoman

Joe Pojman, Texas Alliance for Life, executive director

Jonathan Saenz, Liberty Legal Institute, director of legislative affairs

Kelly Shackelford, Free Market Foundation, president

George Strake Jr., former chairman of the Republican Party of Texas; former Secretary of State of Texas; Texans for Ted Cruz, treasurer

Michael Quinn Sullivan, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, president

Peggy Venable, Americans for Prosperity Texas, director

Kyleen Wright, Texans for Life Coalition, president

 

National Leadership Team

Bill Barr, former Attorney General of the United States

Paul Clement, former Solicitor General of the United States

Jessica Colón, immediate past president of the Young Republican National Federation

Chris DeMuth, American Enterprise Institute, former president; Regulation magazine, former editor-in-chief

Tim Goeglein, Focus on the Family Action, vice president; former deputy director, White House Office of Public Liaison

C. Boyden Gray, former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union; former White House counsel; former chairman, Citizens for a Sound Economy

Edwin Meese III, Heritage Foundation, Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy; former Attorney General of the United States

Dan McConchie, Americans United for Life, vice president for government affairs

Ted Olson, former Solicitor General of the United States

Victor Schwartz, American Tort Reform Association, general counsel; co-chair, Civil Justice Task Force, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)

Jay Sekulow, American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), chief counsel

Dick Thornburgh, former Attorney General of the United States; former Governor of Pennsylvania

Democrat John Sharp picked up a couple of high-profile endorsements in Bill White's back yard.Harris County Commissioners Sylvia Garcia and El Franco Lee say they'll support Sharp for U.S. Senate. Sharp and White are both raising money for a special election to that seat, anticipating the resignation of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who's gearing up for a GOP primary challenge to Gov. Rick Perry. Sharp, the former comptroller, and White, the current mayor of Houston, are both Democrats. Several Republicans have expressed interest in Hutchison's spot, including Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, state Sen. Florence Shapiro of Plano, former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, and Railroad Commissioners Elizabeth Ames Jones and Michael Williams. If Hutchison resigns to make the governor's race, Perry would appoint someone to hold the job until a special election. That special could land almost anywhere on the calendar; unless the governor calls an emergency, it would be on a regular election date in November or May (not on the same day as the party primaries, though). If he declares an emergency — a declaration, by the way, that is based simply on what the governor wants to do — the election could land on another date. Hutchison has told supporters she plans to quit early but hasn't announced that publicly. The conventional wisdom in political circles is that she'll make that announcement in October.

Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison — running against each other in next year's GOP primary for governor — released spreadsheets of the big game they caught in their initial hunt for campaign money for that contest. Each had a bunch of familiar Texas names topping the lists.

You can download a spreadsheet here with each candidate's donor list (in slightly different formats, just as they delivered them to us). Some highlights:

 

Big Bucks for Perry

$225,000: Mica Mosbacher of Houston.

$100,000: m/m Thomas Friedkin of Houston, The Gallagher Law Firm of Houston, m/m B. "Red" McCombs of San Antonio, m/m Gary Petersen of Houston, m/m Bob Perry of Houston, m/m George "Brint" Ryan of Dallas, and m/m Harold Simmons of Dallas.

$75,000: m/m L. Simmons of Houston.

$50,000: AT&T Texas PAC, Border Health PAC, Phil Adams of Bryan, m/m Moshe Azoulay of Dallas, Johnny Baker of Houston, m/m Lee Bass of Fort Worth, m/m Mike Curb of Nashville, TN, m/m James Dondero of Dallas, m/m Dan Duncan of Houston, m/m J. Ellis Jr. of Irving, m/m Tilman Fertitta of Houston, m/m Paul Foster of El Paso, Stevan Hammond of Dallas, m/m H. Heavin of Gatesville, m/m Steve Hicks of Austin, m/m Thomas Hicks of Dallas, Peter Holt of Blanco, m/m Woody Hunt of El Paso, m/m Mickey Long of Midland, m/m Larry Martin of Houston, m/m L. Mays of San Antonio, James Moffett of New Orleans, LA, m/m S. Morian of Houston, m/m Gene Phillips of Dallas, James Pitcock Jr. of Houston, Joe Sanderson Jr. of Laurel, MS, James Schneider of Austin, m/m Michael Shaw of Denver, CO, Rick Sheldon of Waco, Robert Stillwell of Houston, m/m Kenny Troutt of Dallas, m/m Robert Waltrip of Houston, and m/m Charles Wood Jr. of Dallas.

 

Big Bucks for Hutchison

$100,000: John Adams of Dallas, Hushang Ansary of Houston, D. Andrew Beal of Plano, Tim Byrne of Dallas, Ray Hunt of Dallas, Nancy Kinder of Houston, Drayton McLane of Temple, Dick Moncrief of Fort Worth, Mike Myers of Dallas, John Nau of Houston, Robert Rowling of Irving, and Charles Tate of Houston.

$75,000: Ned Holmes of Houston.

$50,000: Louis Beecherl of Dallas, J. Robert Brown of El Paso, Dan Duncan of Houston, James Flores of Houston, Robert Gillikin of Dallas, Joe Long of Austin, Erle Nye of Dallas, James Perkins of Tyler, H. Ross Perot of Plano, Fayez Sarofim of Houston.

$40,000: Harlan Crow of Dallas.

(Note: m/m is Mr./Mrs.)

Lubbock and Tyler races ahead

Put Lubbock attorney Zach Brady on your watch list — he's filed papers and is considering a challenge to Rep. Delwin Jones in next year's Republican primary. Brady says he hasn't made up his mind whether he'll pull the trigger or not, but says, "West Texas is out-numbered in Austin, and people who care about the area have to play hard... Mr. Jones doesn't play hard anymore."

Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, has a fight on his hands. After he said he wanted to run for governor, former Tyler Mayor Joey Seeber got into that race. Berman's not running for governor, but Seeber's staying in. And the challenger says he raised $50,000 in cash and pledges between June 19 and June 30.