Friday Roundup - Grasping at Straws

The Texas Republican Party announced plans to hold a presidential straw poll over Labor Day weekend in Fort Worth, Texas. It expects up to 20,000 people to show up, which seems like an awful lot of hubbub over an essentially unexciting group of candidates. The state organization, however, has something more complicated in mind.

When you are a guaranteed date for the dance, no one tries very hard to impress you, and that's the situation the Texas GOP finds itself in. Candidates will raise money here; if the primary moves to February 5th, you'll see the conservative guys at least a little; by the time the general rolls around, though, the nominee will count on Texas' electoral votes the same way Democrats count on Massachusetts'. The straw poll presents the state party organization as important on the national scene, instead of just a sure thing. No matter what, though, you won't see Giuliani unless he's swinging by to grab a burlap sack with a dollar sign on it.

In sub-Presidential news that would have been exciting in 1988 or 1992, Newt Gingrich and Mario Cuomo are going to debate. Tim Russert is moderating. Why? I don't know. If you're in New York you can go to it and pretend you have a time machine.

In more recent news, remember the other day when Dick Cheney accused Pelosi more or less of being a member of al-Qaeda? Well, he's not taking it back. We were talking in the office this morning about which of the Democratic presidential candidates might be the VP if Obama wins the nomination, and George suggested Bill Richardson, even though he'd prefer Richardson as Secretary of State, or as I like to call it, the Executive Branch's third baseman. I said, "Surely there can be more of a role for the Vice President of the United States than just revealing secret agent identities and shooting old guys in the face. "

That bit just never gets tired.

Over at the Washington Post, which is a quality paper and a friend of the Blue, Chris Cillizza has a breakdown of the last month in Presidential politics, which shows the aforementioned Richardson slightly ascendant. Mitt Romney is hard-charging, and you'd better believe it. He's the first on TV, and will have enough dollars to do some damage, so long as he stops hanging out with George Stephanopoulos.

In state news, Rick Perry is not hip to the interwebs. He is not able to Facebook around the nets and cybersend people electronic letters! I wonder if we'll be privy to the Rick Perry recordings in ten years.

Anytime the words "gets busy" are in a headline, I enjoy the story. In this case, it is about the race for the Houston City Council seat that Shelley Sekula-Gibbs abandoned to run for Congress. There are a lot of contenders lining up, with everyone from civil servants to nonprofiteers to religious leaders. It probably won't be as giant a field as the Dallas race, but it'll be fun to watch.

Speaking of the Dallas race, there's this story about Don Hill choosing to run ads in a local cable buy in Highland Park. No one that will get the programming can vote for him, but they can give him money, which seems to be his strategy.

David Dewhurst would like to reassure everyone that the state Senate is actually working. It seems like an odd announcement to have to make, but there's been a dearth of activity on the floor. The Senate's committees have been hard at work on the state budget, Dewhurst says, and there will be much more time on the floor in the coming months.

If you'd like to see an unfortunate picture of Representative Leo Berman, you can check it out here. The story is about the criticism he's drawing because of his bill to exclude children of illegal immigrants, which increases costs to hospitals. But at least it isn't a tax, right?

Finally, monkeys are making spears and hunting for food with them. Next thing you know, dolphins will grow thumbs and then it'll all be over.