The Chron has it via AP that Tony Garza won't be running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2010. There was a story or two about him in June wondering what he was up to lately, and last week it got out that he might have been thinking about gearing up for a run, but he has killed the rumor. That more or less leaves Hutchison and Dewhurst as the likeliest contenders on the GOP side, although Perry might want to stick around. Official statement below the jump.

It is unsurprising that everyone's still talking about Bush commuting Scooter Libby's jail sentence yesterday afternoon. The Washington Post gets the thumbs-up for going the extra mile with investigative reporting to find out which advisers Bush spoke to in making that decision. Turns out, not many.

We'd love to give you a link, but there isn't one yet: MSNBC has it as breaking news that President Bush has commuted Libby's sentence. The conviction stands, but Libby does not have to serve any time in jail. He will also still have to pay $250,000 in fines and probably lose his law license. EDIT: MSNBC now has the story on their site.

It seems like all people can talk about these days is dollars. Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Watts are all in the national news.

It is hard for me to believe that Barack Obama has name ID problems, but such is the case, according to the Washington Times. That's okay, though — it is apparently not hurting his fundraising efforts. He raised $32.5 million this last quarter, and that will help with problems like name ID.

For this episode of On The Record, we speak with Carla Vela, the Chair of the Bexar County Democratic Party and Vice Chair for the Tejano Democrats.

The Texas Supreme Court just held that the “made whole” doctrine must yield to an insurance company’s right to contractual subrogation under the terms of the insurance policy. To call this opinion anti-consumer would be an understatement of biblical proportions.

What does this mean? You, as a Texas citizen, are severely limited in your ability to recover in a personal injury claim.

I will admit it — I look at campaign websites all the time, and I am honestly interested in how they use new media, such as YouTube or blogs. The campaigns, likewise, all seem very interested in blazing some trails, but the results are sometimes uneven.

The Texas Transportation Commission agreed with Dewhurst, the Regional Transportation Council, and most everyone but Cintra that NTTA should handle the 121 Toll Road contract. There may be some discontent over the decision from Cintra, and Cintra will get it anyways if they can't get everything tied up in 45 days, but it looks like a deal is, as they say, a deal.

7:54 Phew! I was worried there for a bit. The floodgates opened here in North Texas, and we suddenly lost our satellite TV. Beer and politics, hold the politics? I don't think that would make for a very good liveblog. But we've got it back, and we're on! Just in time for the cheesy, cheesy PBS intro.