As a holiday gift to Tribune readers, I’m pleased to present Last Man Standing, my documentary about the 2002 Texas House race between Republican incumbent Rick Green and challenger Patrick Rose, a young Democrat who mounted his campaign while attending law school at UT-Austin.
Texas House of Representatives
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Roll your own political videos … interactive travel maps of your federal and state legislators … scary movies, to keep the kids out of the border’s scary drug wars … puttting dropouts back in class … rates squeezing families out of home health care … how many lobby and trade associations do teachers in Texas need? … enjoying the silence before an expected two-month siege of political advertising … the dean of Texas political writers gets shut out of the gubernatorial debates … and we have an interactive database of the state’s best and worst public schools. The best of our best for a short news week, from December 19 to 26, 2009.
2010: The Old Carpetbagger Ploy
Holly Turner, running for the Texas House in Austinโs HD-47, got welcomed into the race by a fellow Republicanโs press release with this headline
2010: Is Seven Enough for Isett?
Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, has his hometown buzzing with rumors that he won’t seek an eighth term in the Texas House. Isett didn’t return calls and texts to confirm, and his office said simply that he’ll have an announcement on Friday.
Never Can Say Goodbye
Texas voters won’t be offered a real chance at change in the Legislature and Congress next year. Four out of five state and federal lawmakers face no real competition in their primary or general elections.
Mapmaker, Mapmaker
Think like the political pros and your mind will go to the long game instead of the short one. The short game is the elections of 2010. The long game is redistricting in 2011, when maps are drawn that corral the voters into the districts that will elect legislators for the next ten years.
2010: Gattis Bows Out
Dan Gattis’ announcement that he won’t run for Senate or for reelection to the House next year:
Gattis is Out, says Ogden is In
State Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, is dropping his bid for state Senate and won’t seek reelection to the Texas House next year, he said Sunday. Gattis said State Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, will seek reelection after all.
2010: Chavez Not Running for Senate
State Rep. Norma Chavez, D-El Paso, announced today on a local radio show that she plans to run for reelection to the Texas House instead of making a go at the state Senate seat that Eliot Shapleigh is vacating.


