Former state Rep. Ben Z. Grant -- a member of the Dirty 30 who went on to be a state district and then an appellate judge -- is running for lieutenant governor as a Democrat. He was one of a group of House members -- including current House Speaker Tom Craddick, a Midland Republican, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Gammage -- whose rebellion led to the ouster of then-House Speaker Gus Mutscher. The three are going on a statewide tour together next week, starting in Sugar Land on Monday.
• Wayne Christian, a Center Republican who left the Texas House to run for Congress in 2004, wants the state seat back. Rep. Roy Blake Jr., R-Lufkin, replaced Christian and is seeking another term. Christian finished third in a six-person race for CD-1 two years ago.
• Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson agreed to head Chris Bell's gubernatorial campaign in San Antonio, and Bell picked up an endorsement from former U.S. Rep. Max Sandlin, D-Marshall.
• Alex Castano, one of a pack of Republicans running for Terry Keel's job in the Lege, paused to endorse Ben Bentzin, who's running in a special election in an adjacent district opened by the resignation of Todd Baxter. It's not unheard of, but it's unusual. There are four candidates: Bentzin, a Republican, Libertarian Ben Easton, and Democrats Donna Howard and Kathy Rider. Early voting is already underway; Election Day is January 17.
• Revenge three ways: Former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, elected in 1994 as a Republican and cast out by voters two years later, told the Houston Chronicle he'll try to get on the ballot against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay in CD-22 as an independent. The Democrat in that race, Nick Lampson is the guy who knocked Stockman out of Congress. DeLay helped draw the new congressional maps that resulted in Lampson's ouster last year.
• Carole Keeton Strayhorn's newest contributor is more often found supporting Democrats: Joseph Jamail, the Houston trial lawyer, wrote her a check for $100,000 the day after she said she would run as an independent.
• Walking in his son's footsteps, former Jacksonville Mayor Larry Durrett is after the Republican nomination in HD-11, where the incumbent is Rep. Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville. Kenneth Durrett narrowly lost a Republican primary in that district in 2000, the year Hopson first won his spot in the House.
• Armando "Mando" Martinez, D-Weslaco, got a last-minute primary opponent: His estranged wife, Jessica Reyes-Martinez. In addition to being political opponents, they're in the middle of a divorce and a child custody battle.
• Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, will have three opponents in the primary after declaring for Congress and then -- after campaigning and fundraising for several months -- deciding to seek reelection instead. The group includes Mercurio Martinez Jr., Sergio Mora, and Jose "Rudy" Ochoa.
• An open Austin seat, HD-47, attracted the biggest cluster of wannabes: Four Democrats, five Republicans and two Libertarians want the House seat now held by Terry Keel, who's giving that up to run for a judicial post.
• Charles George and Dorothy Olmos, who ran as Democrats in the special election to replace the late Joe Moreno, D-Houston, are running again for a full term in that job. But the two, who finished fifth and sixth in that six-person contest, are running in the Republican primary this time, along with Gilbert Peña, who didn't run in the special election. Ana Hernandez, the Democrat who won the House seat, will face the winner of that primary.