The Texas Republican Party announced plans to hold a presidential straw poll over Labor Day weekend in Fort Worth, Texas. It expects up to 20,000 people to show up, which seems like an awful lot of hubbub over an essentially unexciting group of candidates. The state organization, however, has something more complicated in mind.

From TPMCafe and The Politico comes some news that, while not definitive or final, sets up an interesting scenario: Joe Lieberman may yet become a Republican.

I've noticed there's a great deal of cap-busting being undertaken by our Legislature as of late, and the language chosen by the opposition is interesting. Saying that the House Appropriations committee spent last Thursday busting a cap is fun, but it doesn't fully explain the trouble with what they're doing.

On February 17, the Washington Post ran a story about Senator John Cornyn. Near the end of the article, written by the very astute Shailagh Murray, the Texas Blue's recent take on Cornyn's vulnerability is cited, and the Senator responds to it and the SurveyUSA poll results we offered as proof that he's beatable. The story goes on to say Cornyn has raised $3.2 million for his 2008 race, which is substantial, to say the least. Who knew our observations would inspire a streak of such panicked fundraising?

This week's installment of Who's Blue features former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe. He is the chair of Senator Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign and the author of a new book, "What A Party!" We talk about a little bit of everything, and you can listen to the episode here.

In a new world where bloggers are listed as part of the "trifecta of Democratic interest groups" on equal footing with labor and trial lawyers, the power wielded by some elements in the blogosphere is considerable. California Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher is finding that out first hand.

Rick Perry has had a couple of bad days. From Gardasil to coal plants, he is meeting resistance, and things are tough all over.

Recently, Hillary Clinton refused to apologize for voting in favor of the Iraq War. It sets the stage for some particularly interesting primary debates.

The turnaround on hearings for Perry's HPV order was very fast, but that's no surprise. Impassioned arguments began yesterday, and the House Public Health Committee will probably hear them through most if not all of today. The arguments for and against are the same as you've been reading in the last few weeks, from a challenge to the Governor's authority to make such an order to questions about the long term effects of Gardasil. You can watch the hearing after 10:00 AM here.

Arguments about voting machines are legion these days. As often as a new batch of touchscreen machines are ordered, someone is filing a lawsuit or signing petitions.