Forgive me for waxing a bit Rumsfeldian with that title, dear readers. I've been out of circulation this week, but man oh man what a way to wade back into the pool of Texas politics. There's not other way to describe this poll from Lake Research other than damning.

Something that gives me a great deal of hope that we can turn the tide of our national media's watered down pablum political reporting back to something substantive is the yeoman's work that Glenn Greenwald does on his Salon blog and that Media Matters does as an organization.

Representative Heath Shuler's H.R. 4088, a bill that seeks to "provide immigration reform by securing America's borders, clarifying and enforcing existing laws, and enabling a practical employer verification program", was referred to committee on November 6th.

I've noticed something in the last six months or so on CNN's programming, something that was (in my viewing experience, at least) largely absent from the preceding six years of programming: Focusing on congressional earmarks.

Realconservativ was on display bright and early yesterday morning with the news that Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas was expected to exit the 2008 Presidential race today due to woeful fundraising. Senator Brownback is apparently kicking around the idea of running for Governor in Kansas in 2010.

I like Heath Shuler. I liked him before he was elected as the Democratic Representative for North Carolina's 11th Congressional District. Why? Because he was arguably the Washington Redskins' biggest draft bust in the last 30 years coming out of Tennessee as a quarterback in the 1994 NFL Draft. Anyone who leaves the Redskins with pie on their faces is OK in my book!

Hot off the internets, former General Wes Clark endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton this weekend.

I normally like the Center for American Progress' blog Think Progress. Every now and then, though, I wonder who gets the editorial say when it comes to posting certain stories.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: An intensely disliked political consultant and a disgraced Attorney General head to Texas...

The tangled web that keeps on giving continues to unravel: Earlier today, State District Judge Joe Hart ordered the lawsuit against the Texas Association of Business and Governor Rick Perry's former Chief of Staff/former TAB lobbyist Mike Toomey to move to trial.