Sure, the Republican Party is having problems with many voter blocs — they have consistently angered minorities, the middle class, and even conservative Christians. The Wall Street Journal informs us this morning of what could be the most problematic loss of them all: the business community.

Via Quorum Report: Rick Noriega's campaign advised the media today that fundraising efforts brought in $570,000 this quarter. The press release is here, in Word format.

Call me cynical, but I can't help but wonder if all of this business about TxDOT being out of money has something to do with campaigning for Proposition 12.

The Lubbock press is proclaiming that this week will see the restoration of all that community college money cut by Perry's veto. The Legislative Budget Board will make the call and it is seemingly a foregone conclusion.

For this episode of On The Record, we speak with Theresa Daniel, Committeewoman for Senate District 16 from Dallas.

Okay, okay, so maybe my diatribe from the other day had nothing to do with Newt's decision to not run for President, but you never know. We get traffic from all over, but on Friday we had a definite uptick in hits from Crazytown in Bizarro County.

I love comparative stories about candidates that aren't all about policy. Which is odd, I suppose, since I'm such a policy hound. But I love it when a magazine or newspaper sticks a reporter in a room with experts about something — vocabulary, music, culture — and has those experts analyze all of the candidates on a side in turn. It happens every cycle and I never get tired of it.

Hey, look at that — Josh got himself some fan mail! Apparently he's on informal greeting terms with Barack — er, I mean, Senator Obama. Who'd have guessed?

Newt Gingrich is taking an awfully cavalier attitude towards running for President, and he's being rewarded for it by the media. Rather than, say, campaigning for it and actually picking up the phone and asking for some money, Gingrich is just going to turn it over to an assistant and see what shakes. And I'm not kidding — this is what American politics has been reduced to.

You have probably heard that the Governor's mansion is undergoing some renovations and that Texas' first family will be elsewhere during the work. You may not have known that Perry's temporary housing will cost taxpayers some $10,000 a month. Small government, indeed!