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[Che]

Ok Joe, let's confuse everyone now.

The Guv's race is shaping up to be a good ol' time... watching the Reps go at each other. Perry will probably be wishing George had tapped him for DC... before it is over.

Strayhorn is going to soften him up with body blows. When he is sore and hurt.. Kay Bailey will jump to the fore-front and finish him off. I have a strong hunch that Kay Bailey will be getting my vote.

School financing is going to allow everyone to get in shots... on Perry. On the state level... this is as big of a minefield as Social Security at the national level. Plus, us ol' farts in the Lone Star State are kicking a major hissy-fit on freezing property taxes... which affects school financing :twisted:

Last, Earle may not get Tom, but he will net some smaller fish.

Then we have Heflin, over in your neck of the woods, whining about losing to Vo. The other two got smart and dropped their challenges. I can't say that the state Rep leadership seems to eager to help Heflin. I think the baby custody thingie... hurt him with all kinds of people.

[JuntaJoe]

I like Strayhorn. I've always had a soft spot for hawk comptrollers.

A fiscal conservative like myself always salivates over the prospect a belt tightener like her might win.

Putting the budget on a diet just as the economy gets rolling will serve us well whenever the next drop in the economy comes inevitably.

Nothing makes me prouder when the politicos say that we don't have to slash budgets during a slump because we have a handy surplus gathering dust.

Bailey's fine too. She always seems sensible. She's no flunky for anyone either. Of course, the Dems would love to see her vacate her Senate seat in Washington. Texas is still a place that a Democrat can win providing they show a strong moderate streak.

So I'll be happy to cast my vote for whichever gal matches up in the run-off with Perry. He just seems more interested in photo-ops than getting work done. He had a stacked deck after the last election and had nothing but Republicans in the power seats to work with. And what did he do? I've never believed that conservativism meant doing nothing. We can't just sit and let this economic opportunity slip by. Even tightening budget belts requires initial costly changes to agencies as they adapt. I'd rather we got these one-time costs out of the way while the money is here than just lumber along towards the next business dip.

I've always said that Clinton enjoyed a freebee boost from the economy in the 90's. It would be hypocritical of me to forgive Perry of doing the same thing. When he lauds the Texas economy, I'll know where it came from. It came from his predecessor's work in Washington and little he did. You'd think a Republican Texas governor would have figured out how to capitalize on his predecessor making it to the White House. Seems all he learned was how to pad his resume with that opportunity. The war and the Pentagon have shifted a lot of opportunity to Texas. Did Perry capitalize on it? No, he just clapped and attended the ribbon ceremonies. He should have passed legistlation that would have rewarded these military shifts and made the Pentagon think they should consider more moves here.

I've never figured the wisdom in ignoring the 3rd busiest port in the nation and the gateway to our southern neighbors and we don't even base so much as a destroyer in Houston? We are the closest major US port to the Panama Canal and it's no secret that the Panamanians hired a Chinese company to manage the canal facilities. No matter how fat you make cargo planes, you need ships to move the heavy war material. A light naval reaction force makes sense here to protect our national interests in the Canal Zone.

Considering the impossibility of making heavy armor divisions into rapid reaction forces, why hasn't Perry shown that Texas is a sensible location for locating all of them. Centrally located, close to several good ports, plenty of land for their sizeable needs, and low overhead makes Texas a natural home location for every Abrams tank in the US Army arsenal.

I could go on like this all night discussing opportunities that Perry has missed.

I won't miss him one bit.

[Che]

I was hoping you would comment on Heflin... what is with the dude?

The other defeated candidates have withdrawn their complaints.

It was obvious that none of them were receiving much help from their party leadership.

Why can't Heflin figure out that Craddick is ready for him to go?

[JuntaJoe]

I've learned to take contested races with a grain of salt.

It's a mixed bag. I want the legit winner to get the job, but listening to whining is a pain.

I've learned to tune that stuff out.