For this episode of On The Record, we speak with Ruby Jensen, the Secretary for the Texas Democratic Party and Vice President for Communications Workers of America Local 6222 in Houston.

The passing of Lady Bird Johnson at age 94 is leading just about every Texas news outlet, and rightly so. Her soft-spoken strength, her love for the environment, and her respect for other people made her a national as well as a Texas icon. The Houston Chronicle and Austin American-Statesman are both featuring retrospectives honoring Lady Bird Johnson.

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady and wife of President Lyndon Johnson, passed away today at her Austin home of natural causes at the age of 94.

No longer the party of small government, ethics, or values, the GOP seems to have shipped its oars and gone adrift.

Perry's veto of funding for Texas community colleges is causing him some additional grief. The move had been complained about, loudly, in editorials and letters from community college administrators from all over the state. Now, the Democratic delegation to Congress from Texas is expressing their displeasure over the funding cut and even promising a few moves of their own.

David Dewhurst is thinking about it. Not that he's saying he's in or anything, but the Lieutenant Governor met with the Statesman's editorial board on Monday, and, while saying that he's got stuff he must do for the 2009 Lege session, he hinted that a gubernatorial run might be in the cards.

This is what happens when you go from GOP presidential nomination front-runner to being unable to raise competitive money in the second quarter. MSNBC is reporting that McCain's campaign manager Terry Nelson and his chief strategist John Weaver have both stepped down. MSNBC has the AP wire report.

It looks like Bush is planning to formulate a response to the many Republicans that have stepped up to challenge him on our continued occupation of Iraq. He will now be emphasizing plans to bring some troops home next year. That's not a particularly generous concession, considering that reports that the government in Baghdad has not met a single target for improvement in the area have legislators considering pushing forward the date for action on the war from September to July. Hey, maybe those Congressional Democrats were onto something after all, huh?

In the last several weeks, we have noted that many media outlets have been examining the connection between the Republican Party's position on immigration and the effect that position is having among Latino voters. An editorial in the Wall Street Journal draws a very interesting comparison: might Texas be headed the way California went in the 1990's?

The Watts campaign is saying that he raised $1.1 million in the first 30 days. Cornyn also cannot be pleased to hear the reports that Watts has around $5 million on hand. Statement after the jump.