Friends Like These
From the sidelines, a handful of state judges could shake up the elections for their colleagues on the field. Full Story
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Names, Trivia, and Money
The ballots are more or less complete, pending court actions and dirty tricks and all the usual stuff. And the annual courtship between the vampires and the blood banks — candidates and financiers — is well underway. Full Story
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A Three-Alarm Mess
A Harris County grand jury indicted Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina and his wife, Francisca Medina, on charges related to a fire at their home. Full Story
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Cannibals
Political cannibalism is a bipartisan activity. Full Story
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The Annotated Ballot
Leave out the presidential contest and only a handful of the 173 statewide and legislative races on the Texas ballot are without incumbents. And they're all in the Texas House. Full Story
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Drastic Plastic
Add Dawnna Dukes to the list of Texas lawmakers misreporting credit card spending by their campaigns. And to the line of lawmakers going to the state to make amendments to their campaign finance reports and to try to get their fines lowered. Full Story
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Go!
Weatherford Mayor Joe Tison kicked off the first day of filing, saying he'll run in the GOP primary against Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford. And then the flood began. Full Story
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The Other Season to Greet
You think they decorate the malls too early? Here's our version: There are only 90 money-raising, commercial-running, attack-mailing, town hall-squabbling, sign-stealing, robo-calling, finger-pointing, voter-abusing days left until the Texas primary elections. Full Story
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Who Done It?
Six Fort Worth Republicans are asking for an investigation of automated phone calls they say might have swung the results of a special election earlier this month. Full Story
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Following the Money
Democrat Chris Bell is suing Republican Rick Perry and the Washington, D.C.-based Republican Governor's Association over the provenance of $1 million in campaign money in last year's gubernatorial election. Full Story
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Crash Test Dummies
Dan Barrett and Mark Shelton — a lawyer and a doctor, a Democrat and a Republican, an opponent and a supporter of the current Speaker of the House — will face each other in a runoff in HD-97 in a few weeks. The money is big, the stakes are big, and there's nothing else going on in state politics at the moment. It's a Petri dish full of what'll be happening in House races for the next 12 months. Full Story
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The South Texas Way
The filing period for candidates is still a month away, but things are already getting ugly down in Senate District 21. Full Story
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A Very Expensive Footnote
Democrat Mikal Watts — having spent $947,505 "exploring" a run for the U.S. Senate — decided not to run after all. That removes one serious opponent for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, but the Texas Republican will still face opposition a year from now — probably state Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston. Full Story
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Pigs, Chickens, and Lame Ducks
To summarize: The state's senior senator won't seek reelection and might quit early, and hasn't decided whether to run for governor or to get out and earn some money in the private sector. Full Story
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Death and Texas
The state's top criminal judge has inspired a parody website and a complaint from a group of lawyers that's dead serious. Full Story
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Its Name is MUD
Clunky as it is, "Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One" is a familiar name in election law circles. Full Story
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Soldier, Legislator, Lobbyist, Candidate
Come March, Democratic primary voters will likely know all about U.S. Senate hopeful Rick Noriega's ties to utility companies. What voters will make of it is still anybody's guess. Full Story
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England's New Flag
Rep. Kirk England of Grand Prairie is switching parties, saying he'll seek reelection as a Democrat. There hasn't been a party switch in the Texas Legislature in a decade, and it's been a long, long time since a legislator left the Republicans for the Democrats and survived the switch. Full Story
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A Herd of Headless Chickens
Maybe nobody will remember this in six months, but the people who want Texans to approve $3 billion in cancer bonds are having a hard time keeping their act together. Full Story
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Sweet Sixteen
The political air is different in sixteen legislative districts: Republicans win statewide races, but Democrats dominate in legislative contests. Full Story