News Roundup, New Year's Eve edition

This isn't really unexpected, but Craig Watkins fired some people ahead of taking over as Dallas District Attorney tomorrow. No man is an island, and a District Attorney is usually driven to surround himself with team players, especially after the office changes political affiliation. An exception to the party rule occurred in my own Denton County, when Paul Johnson got rid of 25 people after his primary win over Republican incumbent D.A. Bruce Isaacks.

Republican State Rep Frank Corte compared the Speaker's race to Iraq in what I assume was, to him, an irony-free statement. Speaking of that race, the Chron reports that now Craddick and McCall both swear they have enough votes to win. For real. And also, Jim Pitts is "getting there." I'm not sure how three guys can have a majority of votes, so I'll tell you what I think: I think the chances of this Speaker election being secret ballot are decent, and if it goes secret ballot, Craddick will lose. If the voting is public, Craddick will probably win unless another candidate has a clearly demonstrable majority. And I mean clearly, by ten votes or so. And even then it doesn't seem like an easy hill to climb.

Finally, Texas utility companies like TXU will be able to set their own electricity rates without oversight or regulation starting Monday, so start saving your money.