The Dallas Morning News reports that Dallas County has hired the Munck Carter legal firm to represent the county in the federal voting rights lawsuit brought against it by the Texas Democratic Party over the ongoing fracas in the Texas House District 105 recount.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison isn't officially a candidate for the Governor's race yet, but you wouldn't know it by the tone of some of the barbs being swapped by Senator Hutchison's camp and Governor Perry's camp. Feast on this juicy exchange from the Houston Chronicle:

There's a lot of good reading in this Houston Chronicle article that discusses Houston Mayor Bill White's hypothetical chances of running for Governor in 2010 and what kind of odds he would face. Overall, it's a really good rundown of the lay of the land interwoven with some conventional wisdom from both sides of the aisle.

From the state where John McCain flip-flopped on principle, when he mentioned he thought Saxby Chambliss' campaigning against Max Cleland in 2002 was reprehensible before he decided that he wouldn't let a little thing like dignity stand in the way of being a Republican, there's still one final election to be held before we close the books on the 2008 election cycle.

The Dallas Morning News reports this afternoon that recently re-elected Senator John Cornyn is the new chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).

Via the Dallas Morning News' Trailblazers blog, we see Texas Governor Rick Perry heaping praise upon former Vice Presidential candidate and current Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in the run-up to the Republican Governors Association meeting that begins today:

The composition of the Texas State House of Representatives will be 76-74 or 75-75 pending the counting of provisional ballots in State House District 105 in Irving.

According to the Dallas Morning News' Trailblazers blog, the word on the street is that Republican incumbent representative Linda Harper-Brown thinks she will be on the losing end of the election once the provisional ballots are counted.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! This is your friendly Contributing Editor waiting to accompany you through the third and final Presidential debate of the 2008 campaign. Tonight's debate at Hofstra University in New York will set the final stage for the last two-plus weeks of the 2008 Presidential campaign.

This afternoon, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced that she will not seek re-election to the #4 spot in the Senate Republican leadership.

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that unnamed Democratic officials are saying Representative Chet Edwards is a finalist for consideration for Senator Barack Obama's running mate.

Senator Obama is set to announce his choice tomorrow via text message before a public appearance in Springfield, Illinois.