TRAIL BLAZERS

While the Republicans for governor are battling it out -- raising the spending big bucks in pursuit of the GOP nomination, Democrat Bill White is quietly building a financial base to challenge in the fall. White's attracting support from the party's most potent donors -- trial lawyers, labor and the Democratic establishment. He'll need it if he's the nominee facing a Republican in November.

As I reported this morning, White collected $500,000 from the Democratic Governors Association, according to the latest filings. (Their Republican counterpart dumped $1 million into Perry's reelection four years ago). White also got $50,000 each from trial lawyers Thomas Umphrey of Beaumont, Joseph Jamail of Houston and Richard Mithoff of Houston. Here are some other big-money trial lawyer donations: $25,000 each from Russell Budd of Dallas, Domingo Garcia of Dallas and Cary Patterson of Texarkana; $15,000 from asbestos attorney Peter Kraus of Dallas and $10,000 each from Frank Branson and Marc Stanley, both of Dallas.

White got $50,000 from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union. And party stalwarts weighed in to begin buildling White's campaign treasury: Waco insurance executive Bernard Rapoport, $15,200; long-time Democratic strategist George Shipley of Austin, $15,000 and former Ambassador Lyndon Olson of Waco, $10,000.

Robert T. Garrett checks up on a Rick Perry radio ad:

THE CLAIM: A radio ad by Gov. Rick Perry's campaign touts that Perry "vetoed $35.8 million in earmarks in 2007." Tom Schatz, chairman of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste political action committee, mentions the number as he endorses Perry in the ad.

THE FACTS: Three years ago, Perry used his line-item veto to erase 14 of 36 "special items" for higher education that the Legislature, in a concession, allowed him to review and cancel if he wished. The campus projects that Perry vetoed would have cost $35.8 million. He let stand another $87 million of special items in that list.

Although Perry has railed against special items for seven years, arguing they bypass a higher education funding formula, lawmakers generally have ignored him. In 2007, they included at least $170 million of other higher education special items in various campuses' budgets, in addition to the $123 million on the list.

By loading the $170 million into campus funds, Legislatures forced Perry to veto an entire campus' budget if he wanted to eliminate . That meant if Perry wanted to eliminate any of those particular special items, he had to veto an entire campus' budget. He didn't veto any.

By referring to earmarks, the ad may suggest that the Legislature has a formal earmarking process like the highly publicized system in Congress. It doesn't. Campuses start the ball rolling for special items in Austin, and button-hole lawmakers for support

BOTTOM LINE: Perry's claim about his vetoes is correct.

Hear the ad in this video presentation from the Perry campaign:

Ian McCann writes this morning about the Dallas Tea Party's video message to Keith Olbermann. For your viewing pleasure, here it is:

Sens. John Cornyn and Robert Menendez found common ground on Wednesday on the unlikeliest of subjects: they both agree Democrats will maintain a Senate majority in 2010.

Cornyn, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Menendez, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, rarely agree on anything these days as they spar over several open and contested Senate races.

So after Menendez dismissed any notion of Republicans taking back the Senate in the November elections as "wishful thinking," it seemed logical that Cornyn would fire back with evidence that the GOP has at least a fighting chance.

Not so fast.

"That's certainly not my prediction," the Texas senator said on a conference call. "It would be a mistake to assume that the giddy, heady days of late February and early March will continue all the way through November 2010. A lot can happen between now and then."

State Rep. Terri Hodge issued a statement today asking operatives trying to convince District 100 residents to vote for her to "cease immediately."

The lawmaker recently lodged a guilty plea on a tax evasion charge. Her political career is over.

But Hodge's name remains on the Democratic primary ballot, though Dallas lawyer Eric Johnson is the only candidate actively seeking the nomination.

Former Dallas council member Diane Ragsdale and others are still urging voters to choose Hodge over Johnson. Ragsdale says Johnson should not be able to win the race by default, and voters deserve a true choice. Poll workers pushing Hodge's name have been active at locations all across District 100.

Taking nothing for granted, Johnson is pushing hard toward the finish line.

If Hodge wins Tuesday's election, the Democratic nominee would be chosen by precinct chairs in District 100.

Here is Hodge's statement:

"On February 3, 2010, I announced that, as a result of my plea of guilty to a criminal tax violation, I will not be able to continue to serve in the Texas House of Representatives and that I will not seek reelection.
I also terminated all campaign activities at that time. It has come to my attention that efforts are underway to encourage voters of District 100 to support my re-election. Because I cannot serve if elected and have terminated my campaign activities, I do not endorse or support any such efforts, and I urge that these activities cease immediately."

A pitched battle for the Texas House seat vacated by Kino Flores in the Rio Grande Valley has jarred loose more than spare change:

On Monday, the trial lawyer-funded Texans for Insurance Reform made a $52,500 media buy for Pharr office manager Sandra Rodriguez (right) in the House District 36 Democratic primary. The last-minute, in-kind donation was disclosed in a telegram report to the Texas Ethics Commission. It comes on top of a $52,500 TV spot that Texans for Insurance Reform paid for last month, as well as a $45,000 cash contribution the group made to Rodriguez in late January.

Two years ago, she nearly defeated Flores. Now, she's running an ad casting her Democratic opponent, Sergio Munoz Jr., as the "hand-picked stand in" of his father, former Rep. Sergio Munoz, and Flores.

Rodriguez has raised nearly $405,000, including $21,000 from her own pocket. Munoz Jr., after loaning his campaign $250,000, has spent some $416,000, Ethics Commission reports indicate.

For a sense of how hard-fought these South Texas primary battles can be, go to the jump for a McAllen Monitor story's recap of the Flores-Rodriguez showdown in 2008. It ain't beanbag. Last July, a Travis County grand jury indicted Flores on charges of not disclosing sources of income, real estate transactions and gifts on the disclosure forms he filed with the state.

A caveat: In the continuing battle over lawsuit reform, the trial lawyers are by no means the only big spenders. Yesterday, John Reynolds of Quorum Report, after reviewing the last complete contribution and expenditure reports we'll get before Tuesday's primary, said there have been six-figure contributions by both the trial lawyers and tort reformers in the Tara Rios Ybarra-Jose M. Lozano shootout near South Padre Island. (Business likes her, the plaintiffs' bar likes him.) And now that we've gotten a telegram report showing a $20K gift by Texans for Insurance Reform on Monday to El Paso Rep. Norma Chavez, we can say the same of her primary contest with tort reformer-backed Naomi Gonzalez.

A hunger relief agency is not a typical campaign stop the day before the primaries. But, then again, Kinky Friedman has never considered himself a typical candidate.

The agriculture commissioner contender will be back in Dallas on Monday packing food boxes at the North Texas Food Bank. He was in the Big D a week ago shaking hands at coffee shops, speaking at media outlets and giving a late-night performance at the Granada.

Friedman has spent more time in urban areas than Democratic rival Hank Gilbert, who is trying to gain notice among rural voters.

Gilbert has crisscrossed the state attending small town meet and greets and pulling in more than 60 endorsements. He's started the last week of his campaign with stops in the Rio Grande Valley.

Friedman is focusing on south Texas as well this week, with events in San Marcos and San Antonio before moving on to Conroe.

Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville, was named ranking Republican late Tuesday on the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee.

The subcommittee has wide authority to conduct investigations related to virtually every U.S. industry and tends toward probes that emphasize consumer protection. Yesterday, the subcommittee grilled Toyota's top U.S. executive about the automaker's problems with unintended acceleration. While Burgess cautioned that the subcommittee didn't have all the information it needed to draw a conclusion about Toyota's response to the problems, he insisted "the issue at the heart of this hearing" was "the battle between economics and safety, and safety must always come first."

The appointment is a significant promotion for Burgess, an obstetrician who has sometimes expressed frustration about his lack of impact on health policy. While the ranking Republican often plays defense against the majority's priorities, Republicans and Democrats on the investigations subcommittee sometimes find common ground, particularly when the matter involves consumer protection. The subcommittee's chairman is Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.

A new poll reinforces the problem that Rick Perry has had for some time: He's a conservative Republican incumbent in a conservative Republican primary -- but he can't break 50 percent. The new Rasmussen Reports survey of likely Republican primary voters finds: Perry leading Senate Kay Bailey Hutchison 48 percent to 27 percent. Debra Medina trails at 16. That suggests that Perry is rising, Hutchison is falling and Medina is standing still (a surprising result considering her botched answer to the 9/11 truther question on the Glenn Beck radio show).

At the beginning of the month, Perry led 44 percent to Hutchison's 29 percent and Medina's 16 percent. Hutchison's high point in the Rasmussen polling was in September, just after she announced her candidacy for governor -- a 40 percent to 38 percent lead over Perry. It's been downhill since then.

UPDATE: We were the first to report the Rasmussen results this morning on Twitter and TrailBlazers, but Paul Burka has an interesting take on whether Democrats might cross over and vote for Hutchison to keep the primary going and weaken Perry.
Rasmussen is an automated telephone survey in which a digitally produced voice reads the questions and people are asked to register their answer on their phone. Some experts question the methodology, some support it. Perry needs 50 percent voter support to escape a six-week runoff. That's a threshhold that Perry has trouble meeting. He has failed to reach 50 in every poll so far in this year's GOP primary -- and when he ran for reelection in 2006 and finished with 39 percent in a four-candidate field.

Thought the gubernatorial debates were over? Think again.

Common Sense Texans, the umbrella organization for dozens of Tea Party and 9/12 groups around the state, managed to persuade the big three Republican candidates, along with Democrat Bill White, to sit in front of a camera and answer 10 questions submitted by Tea Party activists.

It's fascinating semi-raw video that offers some interesting stylistic and policy contrasts.

Question 10, for instance: "Tell us about a mistake you have made in your public life, why it was a mistake and what you did to correct it."

Highlights:

Debra Medina: Agonizingly long dead air as she ponders how to answer.

Gov. Rick Perry: Won't fess up to anything, but says it would have been an easy question if it focused on his private life, because he should have married his wife sooner instead of dating her for 16 years. "I'm not sure there's any big mistake in my public life's past that is worth dwelling on. I'm about looking to the future," he said.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison: "Hmmmm. Ummm....I can't just off the top of my head think of a big mistake. Well, oh yes." That vote for the Wall Street bailout (the one Perry has hammered her about). She's glad the Senate refused to dole out the full $700 billion upfront. "I didn't make a mistake with the information that we had. And certainly Gov. Perry and Gov. Palin said that she, too, believed that we had to act to stop the financial ruin of our country.... If I had it to do again, I would put more strings on the $350 billion or see if we could do less."

For all 10 questions, and links to each set of answers, keep reading. White's video won't be posted til tomorrow, Common Sense Texans says.

Willie Nelson's never had trouble hitting the airwaves. But this time he's assisting a campaign with limited resources and delayed promotion.

So Kinky Friedman, who is running for agriculture commissioner in the Democratic primary, is pitching his long-time friend's radio endorsement on his own Web site. He's also begging for play on local stations.

The famed country singer, who supported Friedman for governor in 2006, says his friend will "bring jobs back to rural Texas." He also says he will "oppose toll roads and support farmers and bio fuels."

Nelson mentions the "rural" aspect of the job in almost every sentence of his 30 second plea. He also brings up his own qualifications as a supporter, saying he organized the first Farm Aid concert.

And, yes, there's guitar strumming in the background.

Eight days from the gubernatorial primary, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison left the campaign trail and returned to the Senate yesterday, for a vote on a $15 billion job-creation bill.

She voted against it, but five Republicans broke ranks and it passed 62-30 -- two more aye votes than needed to clear a procedural hurdle. The story of the day was that the new senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, was one of the five Republicans to support the Democratic bill -- despite efforts by Hutchison, it turns out.

The eagle eyed Dana Milbank of the Washington Post spotted her working the new guy, and reported this today:

Moments before the vote, Brown's office sent out word that he planned to side with the Democrats, and some last-minute buttonholing by Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) evidently didn't change his mind.

"It's not a perfect bill, but it's certainly a bill that I felt comfortable enough to vote on, because it's the first step in creating jobs," Brown said. "And anytime you can make a small step, it's still a step."

Don't get too excited if you received a confusing email from agriculture commissioner Todd Staples.

A direct message sent by Twitter on Monday evening pointed followers to a link that read, "you look funny here."

The link redirected followers to a site that reported a "web forgery."

Staples later responded on his Twitter site: "If you received a msg from me, disregard as my account was compromised. Settings have now been changed, thanks so much for following!"

Rows and rows of people lined along Port-au-Prince's narrow streets. Nowhere to go. Nothing to do.

That's the image that will stick with Rep. Michael Burgess from his recent trip to Haiti's capital, where hundreds of thousands of people are still suffering from January's magnitude 7.0 earthquake.

"It was startling," Burgess said. "They weren't mad. They just didn't have anywhere to go."

The Lewisville Republican joined five other lawmakers on a congressional delegation last Friday to determine if Haiti's remaining infrastructure and institutions are capable of effectively administering international aid.

The United States government has given about $636 million in earthquake assistance, according a report last week by the U.S. Agency for International Aid. That number only figures to go up as time goes along, and Burgess and others wanted reassurance from the State Department and USAID that the money would reach those in the greatest need.

"That's the one reassuring message," Burgess said. "I won't say the State Department and USAID are doing everything perfectly, but they are doing the job that we want them to do in getting the aid to those who need it."

Other lawmakers on the trip were Rep. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va.; Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis.; Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass.; and Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.

Former Houston Mayor Bill White had some tough words at the Dallas County Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in Union Station.

He urged the partisan crowd to get ready to defeat the "forces of darkness" after the primary season was over.

White spokesperson Katy Bacon said the Democratic candidate for governor was referring to incumbent Rick Perry, not Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Here's her statement:

"On Saturday night, Bill was NOT referring to "his GOP rivals" in discussing a post-primary scenario. Bill was referring specifically to Governor Rick Perry, who by all accounts is expected to win the Republican nomination after a difficult primary.

On many occasions Bill has openly said he agrees with Senator Hutchison on her criticisms of Governor Perry, from TexDot, to toll-roads and cronyism. He has also worked closely and effectively with many Republicans including Senator Hutchison"

Dallas attorney Ralph Janvey, who is in charge of recovering assets from the empire of alleged Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford, sued the congressional fundraising committees on Friday to recover money that could be returned to investors.

Janvey first requested in Feb. 2009 that more than $1.8 million in campaign donations be returned to the estate. The largest beneficiaries of Stanford's largess were the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ($950,500); the National Republican Congressional Committee ($238,500); the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ($200,000); the Republican National Committee ($128,500); and the National Republican Senatorial Committee ($83,345). According to Janvey, who is represented in the matter by Kevin M. Sadler and Timothy S. Durst of Baker Botts, the committees have "ignored" his requests to return the funds.

Two of the Republican committees are led by Texans: the NRCC, by Rep. Pete Sessions of Dallas, and the NRSC, by Sen. John Cornyn. An NRCC official previously told The Dallas Morning News that the group has no plans to return the money. Sessions' NRCC struggled to raise money in 2009, although it reported raising $4.5 million in January. Even with improved fundraising prospects in 2010, it's hard to imagine the NRCC unilaterally disgorging the Stanford donations since its rival, the DCCC, hasn't agreed to give back the money, either.

There have been a lot of questions about what kind of favors Stanford sought in return for his generous donations. Interestingly, the attorneys argue the answer is nothing: "The Committee defendants did not furnish any consideration whatsoever for the funds they received from Stanford, Davis and the Stanford Financial Group," the complaint states. "Consequently, they have no legitimate right to retain the funds, and the Receiver is entitled to the return of all such funds."

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White raised $2.2 million in the last 30 days and has $5.4 million in cash, says White spokeswoman Katy Bacon.

That's a formidable sum. Remember how the party's standard bearer last time, Chris Bell, had to beg $2.7 million from the late trial lawyer John O'Quinn, just to remain visible down the home stretch of the general election?

White, the former Houston mayor, will report to the Texas Ethics Commission today that he had more than 1,000 first time contributors, Bacon said.

Not to brag or anything, but we've got a whole mess of great new stuff on the race for governor that you'll want to read.

First, get a taste of life on the campaign trail with our Sunday narrative story. Christy Hoppe, Wayne Slater and Bob Garrett spent significant behind-the-scenes time with the three Republican candidates for governor last week to report the piece.

You'll want to watch the video put together by Nathan Hunsinger. And be sure to check out the fantastic photos taken by our staff photographers, too -- Tom Fox was with Kay Bailey Hutchison, Michael Ainsworth followed Rick Perry and Courtney Perry was with Debra Medina.

And as the primary draws near, you might be asking yourself: Just who are these candidates for governor, anyway? Find out with our "50 things you need to know" about the five major candidates: Perry, Hutchison, Medina, Bill White and Farouk Shami. Tom Benning painstakingly compiled these, so take advantage of his work and learn more about the next governor of Texas, whoever he or she may turn out to be.

AP photo/Obama and Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.

Tonight, most of the nation's governors were at the White House for a black-tie Governors' Ball in the State Dining Room, where crooner Harry Connick Jr. provided the entertainment.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry was not among them, though lots of GOP bigwigs were. Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty got to sit next to the First Lady, and if he was measuring the drapes, he did it too discreetly for the press to notice during the 10 minutes we were in the State Dining Room for the president's toast. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist was waaaay in the back of the hall, well out of presidential hugging range, and probably glad of it.

Obama congratulated the governors on hand for the "very tough choices that many of you made" in the past year and called them exemplars of bipartisanship. "One of the things I've always said about governors that Washington could learn from," the president said, "is that it's hard to be overly ideological as governor because the fact of the matter is, the rubber hits the road with you."

With nine days left before Election Day, Perry wasn't about detour to that Sodom/Gomorra he likes to call "Washington." While most of his counterparts from around the country take part in the annual National Governors Association, Perry has made a habit of shunning the NGA, declaring it a waste of his time and taxpayer money, though he has been a leader in the partisan Republican Governors Association.

Interestingly, Gov. David Paterson -- who kicked off his own reelection tour yesterday and was campaigning just this morning -- did make it to the White House.

The RGA's current chairman, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, backs Perry in the primary and is also a central player in the 3-day NGA meeting, where governors are hashing out policy and sharing ideas on health care, surface transportation, education and homeland security.

While Barbour and colleagues from Caulifawnia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Minnesota vied for hearts and minds on the Sunday shows, and then put on the ritz at the White House dinner, Perry focused on a get-out-the-vote tour of Texas, with stops in Houston, Sugar Land and Shenandoah.

Saturday, while Perry stumped at seven Texas stops, the other governors met with Michelle Obama, and heard a pitch to join her in the fight against childhood obesity.
On Monday, as other governors return to the White House for meetings with the president and Cabinet members, Perry will still be campaigning in Texas, no doubt telling folks how much Washington could learn about doing things the Texas way.

Dang. If only someone from Texas ever got invited into the White House for a chance to bend the president's ear.

State Rep. Terri Hodge, who recently admitted guilt on a charge of tax evasion, attended the Dallas County Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.

The dinner, held Saturday night at Union Station, attracted over 350 Democrats.

Hodge smiled a lot and moved through the crowd without hesitation. She made no public comment.

The deal Hodge made with the federal government ends her political career, but some supporters are still trying to get her elected.

Dallas lawyer Eric Johnson is the only true candidate in the District 100 House race.

If Hodge does win, the matter gets tossed in the lap in the District 100 precinct chairs.