TRAIL BLAZERS

Wharton political activist Debra Medina has questioned whether Texas needs a state child welfare agency. Medina, a Republican candidate for governor, suggested over the weekend that the state perhaps hand off child-protection duties to local law enforcement agencies closer to the people.

That would mean abolishing Child Protective Services, which after suffering some budget cuts in the mid-1990s has grown rapidly under Gov. Rick Perry, in response to criticisms it was failing the state's most vulnerable youngsters and needed more caseworkers and support staff.

"Why is CPS a state agency? Could that be handled by the police department or sheriff's office?" Medina (above right/AP photo) said during a campaign stop in Wichita Falls on Saturday, according to a story in the Wichita Falls Times-Record News. Medina said child abuse is a criminal offense and those agencies know the community and the law.

"It's a discussion that can be had," she said.

Last night, we reported that Gov. Rick Perry will appear tonight with former President George W. Bush at a closed-door dinner benefiting Prestonwood Baptist Church's pregnancy center.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's campaign now says the senator will be there too.

She was invited but until today, had a scheduling conflict that precluded her attendance, according to Hutchison campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Baker.

Bush is remaining neutral in the fight over the job he won in 1994 and gave up in late 2000 to become president.

A Perry aide said last night that the governor would get to speak for 5 minutes. Baker says that's not correct, and that neither candidate will have a speaking slot.

More later, after I figure out what sort of costume I'll need to slip incognito into the dinner, which is closed to the news media.

Hutchison and Perry gave back to back speeches Wednesday night at the Harris County GOP's Lincoln-Reagan dinner. That was expected to be their final joint appearance before the Tuesday primary. See -- anything really can happen in politics.

Just an early reminder to visit us after the polls close Tuesday. Reporters and editors across the state will be working late into evening to provide the latest news and analysis. You can also join the conversation in a live chat we'll be hosting on our home page.

See you then.

With four days to go before the gubernatorial primary, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison this morning bought herself as many as eight more months in the Senate. Speaking on WBAP's Mark Davis Show, she said she plans to resign from the Senate
"sometime this year before the November elections."

That's a rather significant amendment to her most recent public posture. In November, at a Republican gathering in Galveston, she said she would resign after the primary, win or lose. And she has repeated that privately to GOP donors and supporters.

Technically, the term "after" can encompass two minutes, two months or two years. And it was always safe to assume the Galveston declaration left wiggle room in case of a runoff six weeks after the March 2 primary.

But there's no denying that the impression Hutchison left was that she would resign soon after the primary. Soon as in days or weeks, not seven or eight months.

Here's what she said in today's radio interview:

"I have said I am going to leave the Senate. It's the best thing for Texas for me to leave the Senate, sometime this year before the November elections. And I'm going to stay and fight health care. I promised that, so that's my first commitment and I will do that," Hutchison said.

When Davis asked about serving out her full term, which runs through the end of 2012, she unequivocally ruled that out.

"Oh no, not going to do that. It's not the best thing for Texas. I want to finish health care reform because it is going to affect every American. And I think I can be effective and fight this just like I did all of December. That's going to be the key. I'm going to do it. It's not good for my political career to kind of stay and fight because I've made the commitment to do it. ... After health care is over it will be much better for Texas to have a new Republican senator getting seniority, before the November elections and that's going to be the right thing for Texans."

This marks at least the fifth iteration of Hutchison's resignation plans. Last summer she said she would resign by the end of November. ("The actual leaving of the Senate will be sometime -- October, November -- that, in that time frame," she said, also on the Mark Davis Show.)

That turned into, by November she would announce her plans for when she would resign. Then came, she would stay in the Senate long enough to fight Democratic health care reform and cap-and-trade legislation and then resign. And then the declaration in Galveston in mid-November.

Click here for more explanation from the Hutchison camp.

Mama Mia! Now Abba is being employed in the Republican governor's primary. Riding high in the polls, the Rick Perry folks are having fun, poking the pork that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has brought home to Texas. They've released a video to the tune of "Dancing Queen," that is called Earmark Queen.

Hutchison is one of the top senators to provide earmarks for the state. But this is not the year, it seems, to be from Washington.
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(UPDATED at 6:30 p.m. to include Obama's comments about Barton's malpractice numbers. Thanks to the commenter for mentioning it.)

It only took six and a half hours, but Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington finally got his chance to talk at the White House's health care summit.

"There is a difference in the fundamental vision on the role of government that you and your friends in the majority have put forward, and the vision those in the minority have put forward," he said, gesturing at President Barack Obama.

By the time Barton made his four-minute speech, most of the major points had been made and remade, and everyone at the summit looked positively drained. But Barton pressed ahead, spending a good chunk of his time talking about medical malpractice.

"One of the things we seem to have agreement on according to yourself and Sen. (Dick) Durbin is medical malpractice," he said. "Now, your proposal, the House's bill and the Senate's bill pay lip service to medical malpractice because they don't really change it."

Barton noted the positive results of Texas' medical malpractice reform from 2003, and he said expanding a similar program to the rest of the country could save up to $150 billion a year.

"Now that's real money," he said.

The agriculture commissioner primary race has been a surprisingly colorful one, filled with the scandals and bickering generally reserved for top ballot races.

But both contenders are pushing innovative revisions that will redefine the department. Kinky Friedman wants to spread animal sanctuaries across the state. Hank Gilbert would like to create co-ops that combine all aspects of cattle production and more successfully brand Texas beef.

Are these proposals substantial boosts for the department or outlandish fodder for stump speeches?

Read about them here and here.

Democrat Linda Chavez-Thompson, seeking her party's nomination for lieutenant governor, has taken a commanding lead in campaign contributions over her primary opponents thanks to hefty donations from labor unions across the country. A campaign finance report this week showed contributions of more than $175,000 over the past month, including $20,000 from the PAC of the United Steelworkers and $10,000 donations from the PACs of the National AFL-CIO and other leading unions.

Chavez-Thompson has spent $100,000 on advertising, according to the report, far more than her Democratic competitors, former Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle and Austin restaurateur Marc Katz. While Chavez-Thompson, a former national labor leader, has raised a total of $205,000, Earle has raised $37,000 and Katz just $11,000. Chavez-Thompson, with her support from labor and Hispanic groups, is considered the front runner.

But Republican David Dewhurst, seeking his third term as lieutenant governor this year, is way out in front on campaign contributions with $2.8 million listed in his January report. The report showed available funds of $1.7 million. Dewhurst, who is not being challenged in the GOP primary, is expected to hold on to his job - unless U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison resigns her seat this year. Dewhurst has made it clear he is interested in the seat if it becomes available and most observers believe he would be the front runner in a special election.

GOP candidate Debra Medina is putting herself before the voters in a new TV ad in the closing days of the primary campaign as a refreshing alternative to Kay Bailey Hutchison and Rick Perry. It appears to be a small buy with the $80,000 Medina reported spending for TV and radio ads this week as the GOP candidate is out there trying to position herself into a run-off against two candidates with 20 times the money.

In the low-production ad, a hamster is running around a wheel festooned with mini Hutchison and Perry campaign logos. The hamster looks a little tired, and frankly as it faces the camera, a little put out and concerned. As the hamster moves to the water spout, the announcer says there are other refreshing options. It is lighthearted and not intended for existential deconstruction, but there is some risk in equating voters with a rodent, however cute.

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Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and his wife Doylene on Tuesday sent an 11th-hour, $25,000 contribution to a Republican candidate for the Texas House who once served as executive director of the state agency that hears homeowner complaints against builders. The recipient of the donation, Stephen Thomas (right) of Cedar Park, is seeking a House seat in Central Texas that opened up after incumbent Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, decided not to see re-election. Four Republicans are seeking the nomination.

Thomas, a former staffer for Gov. Rick Perry and a senior executive of the Texas Facilities Commission, once served as executive director of the Texas Residential Construction Commission, an agency that Bob Perry helped create to mediate disputes between homeowners and homebuilders. The agency was abolished by the Texas Legislature last year after compiling a spotty record that critics said was mostly favorable to builders.

Bob Perry, the biggest contributor to Republicans in Texas - including Gov. Perry - was instrumental in establishing the TRCC as a way to avoid lawsuits in disagreements between homebuilders and their customers. Consumer groups said the commission, however, often was an impediment to homeowners seeking to correct structural or other deficiences in their residences. The agency is now being phased out of existence under a "sunset" bill passed by lawmakers in 2009.

Rep. Joe Barton is one the chosen few to participate in today's high stakes, live-on-TV health care summit with President Barack Obama.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans are giving much ground as the try to promote their competing plans to solve America's health care problems, and the Arlington Republican, who appears to be the only Texan at the affair, hasn't had his turn at the microphone yet.

But Barton did take time during a lunch break to post video of his thoughts on the morning session.

"We are having a good discussion with the President," he said. "It is obvious that he really doesn't want to listen to the Republican ideas or the Republican concerns about the House and Senate bills and the president's proposal."

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.

UPDATE: The White campaign notes that while the Houston Democrat has has a number of trial lawyer donors, he's getting far more money from business. An examination of contributions of $20,000 or more, White has collected $382,000 from attorneys and $2.1 million from business executives and their spouses. That's five times more from business than from the trials. Democrats hope that White's reputation as a moderate, business-friendly mayor will enhance his chances against a Republican nominee in the fall.

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.