A tiny story on MSNBC reveals Bush's five points for the State of the Union: the war on terror, energy, health care, immigration and education. Conspicuously absent is a focus on Iraq.

Hot off the digital presses from the Dallas Morning News' website:

AUSTIN - Hours after Gov. Rick Perry kicked off his second full term in office, rocker Ted Nugent helped him celebrate at a black-tie gala, but not all attendees were pleased by the performance.

Staff Writer Cody Yocom examines the 2008 Congressional race in District 22, home of Nick Lampson.

Rick Perry gave a speech at his inaugural titled "Imagine the Possibilities!" which made me feel like I was at a job fair. The Governor took his own advice during the last election cycle and imagined the possibilities created by Bob Perry giving donations totaling a million dollars to the Republican Governors Association, which would sometimes immediately disburse like amounts to (Rick) Perry's campaign. The link is more obvious than verifiable, but hey - we are in the business of imagining the possibilities.

On January 16th, Illinois Senator Barack Obama announced the formation of an exploratory committee for President in 2008. So far he joins a field of candidates including former Senator John Edwards, Senators Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, and Mike Gravel, Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa, and Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich. Obama says he will announce formally in Springfield, Missouri on February 10th of this year.

This week's episode of Who's Blue? features a conversation with State Representative Paula Hightower Pierson. We discuss the mood in Austin during the first week of the session and the rampant growth underway in North Texas.

Several years ago, early on in my undergraduate studies in political science, one of my professors handed out some reading materials. The title of one of the articles was "The Disappearing American Political Center." The phrase seemed incorrect to me. "Of course there's a political center," I thought. "That's where elections are won!" These days, I still think that article was incorrect, but for different reasons: the political center wasn't disappearing. It was moving.

Barack Obama officially announced this morning that he's forming an exploratory committee, which amounts to an official Presidential proclamation.

It is difficult to write about Martin Luther King's contribution to American society, or indeed to worldwide society, and not feel as if what you've written in no way does the subject justice. A Titan struggles against the tides of History and lesser men like me observe. History finds you out, and those that change the world withstand the test of time.

John Edwards and Hillary Clinton are calling each other out. Yesterday at Harlem's Riverside Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King called for US forces to pull out of Vietnam 40 years ago, John Edwards called on the members of Congress to take a stand against the new Bush plan:

Today we have a new feature from Judge Susan Larsen, in which she shares her observations on the decline of oral argument in Texas appellate courts.

The Chron's Clay Robison openly wonders if Chisum or Turner will get the Appropriations chair that Craddick is certain to take away from Pitts. Since Chisum hasn't been shy about his desire for the gig, I'm willing to bet he'll get it.