The Houston Chronicle kicks around the idea that Attorney General Greg Abbott's $7.3 million campaign account gives him plenty of electoral options, and signals the potential for some serious ambition. I wouldn't be surprised if Abbott is either right in the middle of the Dewhurst / Hutchison / Perry grudge match for the gubernatorial nomination or keeping to himself and waiting to move up after taking on someone significantly weakened by that same unavoidable primary fight.

Air America fans will be pleased to see this other Rasmussen poll on the Minnesota Senate race, which shows SNL alum Al Franken pulling even with incumbent Senator Norm Coleman. Franken had recently been taking a hit in polling after some unpleasantness over taxes, but this upswing shows his recovery may be on the hoof.

It is often the case during presidential election years that news outlets will collect the various gaffes, colloquial mistakes, and regrettable sayings from the campaign trail and serve them up buffet-style. The Politico has this year's collection (Primary Edition!) ready to go for your enjoyment.

On Thursday, it was announced that General Motors and UAW employees at parts supplier American Axle have reached an agreement which should bring the ongiong work stoppage at American Axle facilities to an end. The strike cost GM some $2 billion due to parts shortages at other plants and lasted quite a while, but now employees are headed back to work.

You may remember that former Democratic senator and presidential candidate Mike Gravel had decided to seek the nomination of the Libertarian Party. Their national convention just wrapped up yesterday, and former Georgia Republican Congressman Bob Barr was nominated as the Libertarian Party candidate, prompting Gravel to say that his political career is now over.

Did you know we just landed another spaceship on Mars? Photos from 422 million miles away are fun and educational.

Chuck Todd is an astute political analyst that works for MSNBC, and we're all big fans. For your Friday reading pleasure (or chagrin), you could do worse than to check out his projection that the losing party in the race for the presidency is headed for some serious internal turmoil.

If you're an elected official, you may not have received much affection from Rick Perry over the years unless you were top-line and really important. Now, facing a run for a third term coming off a 39 percent win in 2006, Rick Perry is changing his tune.

The Hagee story wouldn't die, so John McCain is now rejecting the controversial San Antonio televangelist's endorsement three months after the fact.

In an ongoing investigation of the US Attorney firing scandal, Karl Rove was subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee in a direct effort to compel testimony over his role in the matter, and no doubt about what the White House was up to.