The Midday Brief: Oct. 26, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

• "Tea Party members have started challenging voter registration applications and have announced plans to question any individual voters at the polls whom they suspect of being ineligible." — Tea Party Vow to Police Vote Fraud Is Called Scare Tactic, The New York Times

• "Looks like it's not quite over yet for Presiding Judge Sharon Keller of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals." — Sharon Keller: the saga continues, Texas Politics

• "Republican Stephen Broden, who is running as an opponent against Democratic Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson for her Dallas congressional seat, won't be doing any more news interviews, according to those running his campaign." — Broden claims controversial comments taken out of context, WFAA-TV

• "This is my list of vulnerable Democrats and how they might fare, based upon the results of 2008. I am going to say this one time, and it applies to all races, including those not listed here: The combination of an energized Republican base and a demoralized Democratic base, plus the Rs’ huge advantage in fundraising, makes every race potentially much better for Republicans than would normally be the case, regardless of what happened in previous years." — Democrats at risk, BurkaBlog

• "The one issue that neither Gov. Rick Perry nor former Houston Mayor Bill White seem to want to address head on is the projected $21 billion state budget shortfall. But let's take a look at state government spending and see what $21 billion means." — The $21 billion elephant in the room, Texas Politics

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White has spent plenty of time reaching out to the Hispanic voting bloc as part of his strategy to oust Gov. Rick Perry. Republicans have launched their own PAC focused on bringing Latinos under the GOP tent. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, the soon-to-be-majority population doesn't appear to be rushing to the ballot box." — Hispanic Turnout Again at Issue