So why would the Republican governor of a traditionally socially conservative state endorse the most liberal Republican presidential candidate in the field? Probably because he wouldn't mind being on the ticket.

Via Charles Kuffner, behold and let the headline speak for itself: "Harris County GOP opposes $3 billion cancer bond plan."

The big news today is a Texas Monthly interview with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in which she confirms she will not seek another Senate term. She also once said, long ago, that she would only take two terms in the Senate, but that was then, and this is now.

Not a day goes by without some sort of story about New Media popping up on the political news sites.

Welcome to a new news cycle. You may have noticed that SCHIP is still very much among the headlines, and it probably isn't going away any time soon.

Mailbag? More like Mixed Bag, am I right?

In case you're curious about what's actually *in* the Mailbag, we cover Denton County and Turkey. --George

There's an interesting story at Huffington Post today concerning endorsements and what they mean. Essentially, Sam Stein makes the argument that endorsements are good for press but they don't really bring out the voters.

Al Gore already has an Oscar and an Emmy. He added to his award shelf when he won the Norwegian Primary this morning. He shares the Nobel Peace Prize with a UN panel on climate change.

Over at The Fix, Chris Cillizza seems convinced that some GOP candidates are ready to fork Iowa over to Mitt Romney.

Today the Washington Post reports that the SITE Institute, a private intelligence analysis firm that tracks international terrorist activity, had managed to procure September's al-Qaeda video early via their investigations of the group.