The Evening Brief: April 10, 2012

New in The Texas Tribune:

• Santorum's Exit Deals a Blow to Texas Primary: "Rick Santorum’s withdrawal from the 2012 presidential contest makes Texas Republicans, once again, all but irrelevant in their party’s nomination process. But a push backed by Santorum supporters to make Texas a winner-take-all affair could still live on. … Ron Paul, who is visiting his home state this week, made it clear he will stay in the race and attempt to influence the party's deliberation at the convention in Tampa this summer."

• Who's Conservative? New Group Ranks Lawmakers: "The Texas Conservative Roundtable's first legislative rankings are out, and the group has a different view of who is conservative and who isn't than some others who rank lawmakers."

• TCEQ to Vote on State Agency Participation in Contested Case Hearings: "The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will vote Wednesday on whether to prohibit state agencies from participating in contested case hearings on permits and licenses issued by the commission."

Culled:

• Meanwhile, Paul Keeps Campaigning (The New York Times): "Now that Rick Santorum has suspended his campaign, and Newt Gingrich is focusing his efforts on the convention, Mitt Romney still faces one opponent with money: Representative Ron Paul. And on Tuesday, Mr. Paul was campaigning in Texas, his home state, which votes on May 29, to show that the Republican contest was still registering a slight pulse."

• Santorum exit probably helps Dewhurst's Senate foes, but which? (The Dallas Morning News): "Rick Santorum's suspension of his campaign may further depress turnout in next month's Senate GOP primary, as what little sizzle remained in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination just took a blast of cold water. The Texas battle to succeed retiring U.S. Kay Bailey Hutchison already has been postponed twice. The May 29 date bleeds into some people's graduation and summer vacation plans, and a Mitt Romney-Santorum showdown in the Lone Star State could have perked up voter interest. No more."

• What Does Santorum’s Future Hold? (FiveThirtyEight): "Although Rick Santorum was exceptionally unlikely to win the Republican presidential nomination, his decision to suspend his campaign, which puts an effective end to the Republican nomination process, is obviously good news for Mitt Romney, who can now focus fully on his general election campaign against President Obama. Mr. Santorum may have bought himself some goodwill with Republicans by clearing way for Mr. Romney, as polls increasingly revealed that most Republicans considered Mr. Romney’s nomination inevitable and many of them wanted to get the race over with. But is there any way for Mr. Santorum to cash in those chips?"