The Midday Brief: Dec. 3, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

• "Some time between now and January 11, Ken Paxton is going to have to produce names of members who are switching from Joe Straus to him. It’s likely that there are some moles on the Straus list who will switch, generating a headline or two, in an attempt to create momentum. I can’t see how Paxton gets to 76. Outside pressure does not win speaker's races." — Paxton plans statewide tea party campaign, BurkaBlog

• "The woman behind an internet video campaign to oust House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, says she hopes to raise enough money to run TV ad spots before Texas lawmakers return in January to elect a leader for the upcoming legislative session." — Internet video targets House Speaker, Texas Politics

• "Fast-growing Texas is poised to be the biggest winner of all when it comes to picking up influence in Congress in the next few years, and Republicans are salivating at the prospect of fattening the largest GOP delegation in Washington." — Texas will see dramatic gain in US House seats, The Associated Press

• "Aged nuclear plants in Vermont and Illinois may be playing the equivalent of musical chairs in a graveyard, vying for space at a dump in Texas whose owner hopes to accept radioactive waste from many other states." — Texas Proposal Spurs Race to Dispose of Nuclear Waste, The New York Times

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "The effects of Texas dropping out of the federal Medicaid program would be sweeping and to some populations devastating. But that doesn’t mean the current system is workable for Texas, according to a long-awaited report released today by the state’s Health and Human Services Commission." — HHSC/TDI: Texas In No-Win Situation With Medicaid