The Midday Brief: Nov. 16, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

• "Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison — an ardent purveyor of earmarks throughout her congressional career — fell in line this morning behind a two-year moratorium demanded by tea party conservatives." — Kay Bailey Hutchison backs tea party's earmark moratorium, The Dallas Morning News

• "Sen. John Cornyn, R-San Antonio, is vowing a 'constructive dialogue' with newly elected, Tea Party-backed Republican senators in the wake of unanimous election by Senate colleagues to a second two-year stint as chairman of Republicans Senate campaign operation." — Texan to lead Senate GOP campaign operation through 2012, Texas on the Potomac

• "The political committee at the heart of the Tom DeLay money-laundering trial never had enough money to donate $190,000 to Texas candidates without swapping corporate money with the Republican National Committee, according to testimony this morning." — Why did DeLay committee give money it didn’t have?, Postcards

• "Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, is running a no-holds-barred campaign to chair the committee, one of the most powerful in Congress. His competition: Rep. Fred Upton, a moderate Republican from Michigan." — Race between Joe Barton and competition for Energy gavel gets negative, Trail Blazers

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "The founder and chairman of Public Strategies Inc. — set to be honored today an Austin luncheon — on why the Republicans beat the Democrats so badly on Election Day, whether Texas is philosophically the same state it was 30 years ago, how things have changed for business interests dealing with the government and whether the "little guy" has a voice in our political system." — An Interview With Jack Martin of Public Strategies