If you'll recall, we said several times around here that Craddick was going to have trouble ruling due to the hustle he had to run during his race. The first sign of those troubles is starting to appear, as covered by Burka, the Statesman blog, the Chron proper. There are too many people to punish and too many people who will become problems if they aren't rewarded for selling whatever they had to in order to help Craddick. The fact that assignments were postponed 'indefinitely' could amount to nothing, but who knows. It might be a while before committees come out, but it can't be too long.

Instead of fast-tracking construction of 17 coal-fired power plants, Governor Perry should fast-track state funding for conservation measures and energy alternatives to help alleviate future electricity shortages.

On the legislative front, there is sometimes a great disparity. On the one hand, State Senator Rodney Ellis filed a bill on Wednesday which would prevent state investments from buying into companies that do business with the Sudanese government. On the other, State Representative Charlie Howard authored legislation which would ban breasts and buttocks on billboards. Alliteration aside, this bears discussion.

HB 129 expands our libel laws by including defamatory statements expressed on an Internet Website. The prevailing party under this bill would be entitled to force the author or Internet website to remove the defamatory statement. The regular rules for proving and pursuing a libel case remain in effect.

This week's episode of Who's Blue? features State Representative Juan Garcia. Tell your friends and neighbors. Also, you may want to fill yourself in on what House Democrats did yesterday on health care, with Representative Garnet Coleman leading the charge. Republicans didn't really show up, but with an expanded and active Democratic minority, CHIP may be a central issue this session, whether the GOP wants it to be or not.

I have seen it again and again this week. "O, Hillary!" the press says. "Your legendary countenance has come! Your status as a million-pound gorilla is sure to ruin the formerly strong hearts of those that challenge you! And verily, you took all the money out of New York! And lo, the Washington Post says you are totally already winning and will be the Democratic nominee any day now." The national poll conducted by the Post and ABC News has Hillary ahead of everyone else at 41%. However, at this stage in the game, national polls barely do anything than register name ID. The only polls that matter right now are the polls from the first primary states, and in those states, the race is much, much closer.

Thanks to boadicea of Texas Kaos for finding the online video of the Spanish presentation of the Democratic response to the State of the Union address, presented by Rep. Xavier Becerra, CA-31. Following is a translation of Rep. Becerra's speech.

Paging through the usual chunk of news stories and blogs this morning, I came across an entry on The Huffington Post by David Rees, creator of the brilliant Get Your War On, which was once solely on the Internet and now runs in Rolling Stone. He referred to the State of the Union as Congress' "Night To Remember," as if it were the yearly prom. He's funny, and his post includes mention of a tactical plan in which Condoleezza Rice and Dennis Kucinich team up to personally arrest terrorists.

* Links to the full text of both the SOTU and the Democratic response are at the bottom.

8:09 The President of the United States makes his way to the podium. Anonymous handshaker's comment: "Mr. President, I am saying a prayer for your success." At least the applause is loud. Sounds like Keith Olbermann caught that quote too -- he just commented on it. (That, or he's reading our liveblog.)

In case you missed it, by the way, I did a quick prequel to the SOTU, with some comments on the press briefing earlier this morning. Read that if you want to know what to expect.

After watching the President's address on the Iraq War a couple of weeks ago, I would imagine most folks are expecting a more-of-the-same performance with the State of the Union address tonight. But the pre-SOTU press briefing put out by the White House points to a couple of potential surprises this evening which just may make it worth watching.