The Austin American-Statesman's Postcards from the Lege blog is reporting that Representative Sid Miller (R-Stephenville) has confirmed that Representative Tom Craddick (R-Midland) has dropped his bid to be re-elected as Speaker of the House for the 81st Legislature.

The Dallas Morning News reports this morning that former Comptroller John Sharp has filed paperwork to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in the 2010 cycle or in a special election after the 2010 cycle or when her term is up in 2012. Are those enough possibilities for you, dear readers?

Bill White formally announced yesterday that he will seek Kay Bailey Hutchison's Senate seat.

The Dallas Morning News' Trailblazers blog has the content of the latest fundraising appeal from Governor Rick Perry. Perry is under an interesting deadline; as Governor, he can't raise money during the legislative session nor during the 30 days prior to the start of the session, while Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is free to continue raising money. This means that Governor Perry has an unofficial deadline of this Saturday to raise money before the next legislative session begins.

The Perry fundraising appeal contains this not-so-subtle — and grammatically questionable — barb directed at Senator Hutchison:

Recently reelected Houston tax assessor-collector Paul Bettencourt has announced that he will be resigning his position for a "private business venture."

Houston Mayor Bill White is looking at his options for 2010, according to a report today.

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:

Nate at FiveThirtyEight reports that Al Franken's Senate campaign has received three pieces of good news:

The AP has called the Georgia Senate race for incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss, currently standing at 59/41 with 84% of precincts reporting. Lower-than-average voter turnout in Fulton County along with comparatively strong Republican turnout across the board seems to have been the determining factor in Chambliss' victory.