Free Republic

In the last few days I read, with interest, two items running on highly respected, national conservative blogs. First, Brandon Darby and Bob Price reported on Breitbart.com on the failed lawsuit of Joe Pool, Jr., against conservative incumbent Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeff Brown. The full story has a lot of good information in it, but the lede really says it all: Republican Joe Pool, Jr. is seeking election to the Texas Supreme Court; however, instead of campaigning, he went to the courts seeking to have his Republican opponent removed as a choice for Texas voters on the ballot. The...

The Travis County clerk's election division began the process of reviewing and counting provisional and overseas ballots Friday, and the outcome could lead to the ousting of a West Austin Democrat.State Rep. Donna Howard led Republican challenger Dan Neil after election night by 15 votes out of more than 51,000 votes cast. But the race isn't quite over.After the current round of counting is complete — the official results are expected to be announced Wednesday — candidates can call for a recount, Howard said.Neil's campaign manager, Zach Vaughn, said it's too early to make a call on a recount.Beginning Friday...

State races could see DeLay effect BY D. LANCE LUNSFORD AVALANCHE-JOURNAL A Texas Tech professor said the resignation of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, will not pack the punch that it would closer to November, but fallout could eventually hit current Republican leadership hard on the state level. DeLay, who is under indictment on campaign finance charges, announced last week that he will resign from Congress sometime before mid-June. Craig Goodman, a Tech political science professor, said risk to House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, and others is evident in races where DeLay associations are played up by campaigns seeking...