Do we want this?

Reports are flying from every source about Tom Craddick's sudden but not entirely unexpected difficulties in his race for Speaker of the Texas House. First McCall, then Talton, and now Jim Pitts have announced that in one capacity or another, they are all running against Craddick. Everyone claims to have pledges from this rep or that rep and everyone says they have the votes to win.

My question is this: do Democrats want this to happen? After seven seat pickups in the last two cycles on Craddick's watch, things are going pretty well. Yes, Democrats would get more legislative energy, and more of a seat at the table, and partisan rancor would certainly slow down quite a bit. However, the GOP mismanagement of state government may work out well enough for Democrats to take over the House outright in the next cycle or two.

I'm just saying. A further word on Pitts: as a Craddick-appointed chair of Appropriations, he has to be running for real against Craddick.