For this episode of On The Record, we speak with Gerry Birnberg, County Chair for the Harris County Democratic Party.

The State Highway 121 toll project is a big deal in many circles of Texas government these days. Even though the Texas Transportation Commission says they are "encouraged by the competition," things are getting complicated.

Dick Cheney wants you to know that he is actually part of the executive branch. Again. Or has been all this time. Politico says that Cheney's office is doing away with the argument, and they link it specifically(!) to Rahm Emanuel's moves to deny them executive branch funding.

Let's assume for a second that we belong to a multi-trillion-dollar corporation, and we don't like a specific candidate. Before Monday's decision by the Supreme Court, we wouldn't have been able to run fake issue ads against that candidate within 60 days of an election. But now we can!

Oh, that crazy, madcap Ann Coulter. You've just gotta love her. If there's anyone that can remind America that conservatives don't actually have a hold on moral righteousness, it's her.

The Supreme Court made big news yesterday when they decided to open the door to corporations and unions running politically-charged advertising around elections time.

The response to Rick Perry's veto of funding for community colleges has been pretty homogeneous: no one likes it. Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie has some guesses as to why.

In a display that I'm sure surprises no one, both members of the Texas delegation to the US Senate are refusing to play ball on immigration reform.

For this episode of On The Record, we speak with Richard Torres, Chair of the Williamson County Democratic Party.

This week's Mailbag brings us some readers pointing out interesting news items for the week (we love that!), as well as a strategy question on state straw polls.