If you're like me (and since we're on the internets, I'll assume that you are), you had a nice, tidy little laugh when you heard the GOP kicking around Fred Thompson's name as a possible candidate for President. Surely, I thought to myself, Thompson would never be seriously considered against a McCain or a Giuliani, and no one would take him seriously over the southern gravitas and candor of a Huckabee or even someone silly (and yet formidable!) like Romney.

So imagine my surprise to see, on CNN, that Thompson is running third in a recent USA Today / Gallup poll.

After what seemed like eons, Rick Perry agreed yesterday to not only place TYC in a conservatorship (under perennial pal Jay Kimbrough) but also to change the structure of the agency so that it will have a commissioner. Jay Kimbrough is going to fire all the felons and no one's job is safe.

If you filed one of the 40 or so immigration bills this session, State Representative David Swinford has some bad news for you: your bill is going nowhere. It seems that state government is not "in the immigration business."

Today we have a feature by Democratic National Committee member Betty Richie on the importance of rural America, be it in Democratic politics or otherwise. You can read it here.

While not exactly breaking news, it came out that former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack has plans to officially endorse Senator Hillary Clinton. There are some serious implications to what happens in Iowa during the presidential primary, so this, as we professionals say, is a big deal.

I am back from London, and the Texas political news seems as if it hasn't changed much since I got on a plane and flew halfway across the world last Saturday morning. For instance, the ongoing story on the TYC scandal continues to be about who knew what and when did they know it, and that circle of questions is starting to zero in on the Governor's office.

It was only a matter of time before Congressional Democrats were able to nail something to Rove, and it looks like the US attorney scandal is where everything it going to start. An administration is spoiled by a lack of oversight when it operates for so long within unified government, and the skill with which the Bush administration is handling its political problems since Democrats took over Congress could only be called negligible in polite circles. They don't call it "death by a thousand cuts" for nothing, and the inability of the White House to control the slow, steady leak of emails can only indicate that their problems are only going to get worse.

The TYC board has resigned. This has put Dewhurst in an odd position since Perry is currently in the Middle East and he is acting governor. After the Senate passed their measure to fire the current board and bring in a new one, Dewhurst was asked if he would sign that bill once it passed the House and / or place TYC in a conservatorship. Dewhurst didn't really answer, but the position makes for some wicked liability.

John Cornyn voted against a bill that protects you, and me, and all of our friends and family yesterday when he voted against a bill which implements many of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. For all their bluster and bloviating, Senate Republicans have selective memories when it comes to terrorism and the need to secure our country against foreign aggression, and I'm not sure how any legislator could answer for making votes like this.

In this week's episode of Who's Blue, I speak with David Farabee, State Representative from District 69 in Wichita Falls. We discuss his family’s political legacy, his work on children’s mental health issues, and why he had to run as a write in candidate in his first race. You can listen to it here.