There is a great deal of news in a week that seems to have been loaded towards the rear with significant findings and happenings. The first thing I want to mention is this story from various Texas media outlets only one media outlet (Thanks, PDiddie) about a mysteriously-timed discovery of voter fraud and some analysis and discussion at the Burnt Orange Report.

Via Burnt Orange Report, I heard about some work from Charles Kuffner, who enjoys putting together numbers on a variety of races. In a piece entitled Targeting 2008: State Senate, Kuff points out that some Republican state senators may be vulnerable to strong challenges, or at the very least don't seem totally rock solid.

Well, Bush wasn't kidding. He went ahead and vetoed the Iraq War funding bill yesterday, setting up an unfortunate (and probably unforeseen) set of negotiations with his own party. Bush's second veto will not result in the sort of 'clean' legislation Bush has been yammering about, and instead will show him that Republicans are after benchmarks, too.

A couple of sources report (and now Statesman confirms) that the Senate State Affairs committee will review the bill this week that would move Texas' primary up to February 5.

The TexVAC Rayburn-Johnson dinner was a rousing success on Saturday night, and it included an incredible speech by Paul Begala. Not only was the speech stirring and a source of encouragement and excitement for those in attendance, but he did probably the best Bill Clinton impression I've ever heard. The event was executed very well, and could serve as a model for similarly motivating other regions in Texas.

Today we're introducing a new feature: The Texas Blue Mailbag! People have actually been writing us letters, and until now we were sometimes remiss in answering them in a timely fashion. From now on, we'll review the letters we received each week, every Friday afternoon. The general email address that both George and I get (and successfully keep up with now) is info@thetexasblue.com, so keep those letters coming.

I think the clear winner in last's night debate was The American People. You could say that, or you could say that everyone was lucky that former Alaska senator Mike Gravel didn't punch anyone. I was convinced that would be the outcome, or that Brian Williams would make everyone put their heads down for not following directions.

George is going to be bringing you a liveblog of the MSNBC Democratic Candidate Debate tonight, from 6:00 - 7:30 pm Central.

The House decided to see what happens when an incredibly embattled president tries to flex his muscle and spend some political capital yesterday, passing the Iraq funding bill 218-208. The bill includes provisions for troop withdrawal which could begin as early as July, depending on whether the Iraqi government meets certain benchmarks. Withdrawal would have to begin by October 1, and combat would be over by next March.

For all of you who might not be as interested in actual campaign mechanics or how politics works, you can now be the MySpace candidate for President.