The Midday Brief: February 12, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

"For the fiscal year so far, the state’s collection’s are almost $1.3 billion behind where they were last year." — Texas’ sales tax continues steep slide — Postcards

“Our goal was to mount an aggressive social media and grassroots campaign that has not been seen in a Supreme Court race before, and I think we are succeeding.” — Chuck Norris Endorses Rick Green for Texas Supreme Court — Texas Insider

"And she also reveals that she may be a so-called birther — those who question whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States." — Is Medina a birther? — Postcards

"So, note to Melecio Franco, who spent about two years working for Poe as a congressional caseworker, the ex-boss isn’t on your team." — Rep. Ted Poe endorses Rep. Kevin Brady; implicit rebuke of ex-aide's challenge — TRAILBRLAZERS

New in The Texas Tribune:

"The Dallas Morning News goes with former Travis County D.A. Ronnie Earle, while the San Antonio Express-News picks labor leader Linda Chavez-Thompson." — 2010: Newspaper Endorsements: DMN, SAEN on Lite Guv

"Already, the efforts of Reid and Blog Warrior Michael Openshaw and their Tea Party offshoots have propelled Fang, a CPA, into an unexpected runoff to fill a City Council vacancy." — Texas Tea

"As Times contributor Russell Shorto notes, board members made few overt moves to inject Christianity at the last meeting, perhaps out of worry over the bad publicity it would create — especially at a time when several in the socially conservative bloc are facing stiff campaign challenges." — TribBlog: NYT Mage on SBOE's "Christian Nation"