Speaker's Race Coverage: Confusion Abounds

If you're going to have a press conference in which you say you definitely have the votes to do a thing, the guy who just endorsed you probably shouldn't say that some of those votes "are not ready to be on [y]our list."

That being said, I reiterate that the secret ballot is the key. Craddick wouldn't be having pizza party phone banks if he was totally confident, or at least not to the level of activity that's being reported - never let it be said that I'm not an advocate of counting your votes. If McCall and Pitts could be 100% certain the race was over, the race would be over, press conference or not. I think the sides aren't really talking to each other, no one is sure if they're going to win or not, and it will come down to the vote over whether or not they keep the rules from the last session on Tuesday. If they do, the secret ballot likely spells doom for Craddick's opponents. I figure if this one was going to end early it would have already.

Sure, it takes courage to stand up against Craddick. The limb that McCall and Pitts have gone out on is tiny and tenuous. If it works, it will be a huge deal, and if it doesn't, it won't be much of a surprise, although it will be interesting to see how Craddick recovered from a challenge that was at least threatening enough to spur him into observable action.