My hometown paper recently commissioned a poll in which they found that Houston Mayor Bill White would beat Perry and Hutchison in 2010 among voters in Harris County. He beats Perry 61-28 and Hutchison 53-33. White, a former Clinton appointee and head of the Texas Democratic Party, is currently serving in a non-partisan capacity.

Knowing how to laugh at or with your own is invaluable in modern politics, and is something conservatives just cannot do. I had to smile when I read this mild jab at the rhetorical stylings of Joe Biden from FiveThirtyEight's analysis of Delaware in their Road to 270 series, a state-by-state analysis of the presidential race and some of the bigger downballots.

National polling numbers are all over the place right now, from Pew (which have Obama up by 14) to AP (Obama by 1). Their raw numbers, however, aren't all that far apart. The major difference between the polls is in their methodology.

One of the great flaws of the modern Republican narrative is that it must, by its very nature, disenfranchise a huge number of Americans in order to be successful. They've gotten savvy enough to know that it can't be overtly racial disenfranchisement, but sexual orientation, religion, profession and, most importantly, where you live can still all be factors of what a real American is and isn't.

When Republicans allow our financial markets to operate in a state of nature, they should not be surprised by natural disasters.

The race for the Senate seat in District 17 has been one marked by questionable Republican tactics from the get-go, with rumors of a candidate encouraged to run as a Democrat to split the vote and try to weaken Democratic candidate Chris Bell's overwhelming support in the area. It seems that they've recently chosen to cross the line, however, from questionable into downright dirty, with a push poll being circulated that mischaracterizes Bell's stance on a number of issues. Jason Stanford has the details on Chris Bell's campaign blog.

Disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to four years in Federal prison this afternoon after pleading guilty to charges of tax evasion, fraud and conspiracy.

Abramoff has already served 22 months in prison for crimes associated with his lobbying activities with regards to Indian casinos in Florida.

Many Americans on both sides — or neither side — of the political debate have grown weary of the flame-throwing extremist "culture war" attitude that the Republicans have been running campaigns on for the past few years. But don't tell the Republican Party that, because they're not buying. Politico.com explores how Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican convention yesterday is a return to the tired "culture war" playbook — understandable, as that's the only way Republicans know how to win anymore.

Last Tuesday, the U.S. Census Bureau released a report on income, poverty and health insurance in the United States in 2005-2007 (PDF). Unfortunately, Texas took first place in the percentage of state population that does not have health insurance: In the three year period from 2005 to 2007, an astounding 24.4% of Texas residents did not have health insurance.

Looks like McCain's running mate won't be who you think it is. EDIT: But it looks like we know who that will be.