Our questions this week cover a little bit of everything.

The Politico's Ben Smith has it that AFL-CIO leadership will commit $53 million to "unrestricted 'member-to-member' communication" during this election cycle.

Gromer Jeffers has some coverage on Rep. Kirk England's press conference concerning his decision to switch parties yesterday, and some GOP reaction.

For this episode of On The Record, we speak with Nancy Archer, Liberty County Democratic Party Chair located in Senate District four and Secretary of the Texas Democratic County Chairs Association.

You may have heard — since the news is everywhere — but State Representative Kirk England, a Republican from District 106 in Grand Prairie, has decided to join the Democratic Party.

Republican Fred Hill, who emerged as an anti-Craddick Republican in the last session and had asserted he would be a candidate for Tom Craddick's job the next time around, has announced he won't run again for his state house seat in Richardson.

I spent most of my youth in Johnson County, and as I was growing up I would occasionally hear references to the "good ol' boy" system in place there that determined, in large part, what went on in the area. I didn't think much of it, assuming that all small Texas towns probably operated in this way.

Fort Worth Weekly, which continues to impress with its coverage of local area political issues, offers an inside look at one facet of that insular system in Johnson County which affects plenty of people: law enforcement.

Senator Hillary Clinton stole the headlines yesterday by unveiling her universal health insurance program — though to say that response was positive would be perhaps a bit of an overstatement.

Get your Consensus Candidate scorecards ready: George Bush is all set to nominate Michael B. Mukasey as Alberto Gonzales' replacement at Justice.

For this episode of On The Record, we speak with Cay House, the Rains County Democratic Party Chair and Mayor of Emory, Texas in Senate District 2.