Perry has officially endorsed John McCain as his presidential candidate of choice. Not surprising, considering Perry’s first choice dropped out of the race and threw his support to McCain.

“This election is going to be the deciding election on whether or not we’re going to choose to fight or we’re going to announce our surrender in this war,” said Perry. Perry went on to say McCain’s resolve to continue the fight is the reason he is endorsing him…so, no - he’s not just doing it because Guiliani told him to.

Check out the official endorsements from members of Congress for all the presidential candidates!

The Terminator officially endorsed Republican presidential candidate “the comeback kid” John McCain just moments ago. With California offering 173 Republican delegates, Schwarzenneger’s endorsement could mean “hasta la vista baby” to the other men on the ballot.

I’ll stop with Arnie’s one-liners now.

Romney and McCain both got a little salty in last night’s debate, while Huckabee kept calling “over here, over here!” But, who won? Vote here!

One of the two men after Rep. Michael McCaul’s job has announced he raised more than $150, ooo dollars in the fourth quarter. In the great tradition of t.v. actors hoping to run alongside their on-screen character, Larry Joe Doherty’s campaign is highlighting his “celebrity” status (in case you didn’t know, Doherty is the star of the T.V. series Texas Justice). The other man seeking TX 10, Dan Grant, has not yet released his fourth quarter earnings, but did release the names of the groups endorsing him.

Meanwhile, if you’re a fan of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, you can head over to his fundraiser, The Austin Liberty Ball, tonight at Ruta Maya. It starts at 8pm, has a $5 cover and you’ll get a chance to meet his son, Ronnie Paul, as well as listen to the music of The Story of and Golden Bear.

In the both Democratic E-poll and the Republican straw poll, well-intentioned Texans picked the losing candidate. The thousand or so Republicans who participated threw their support to Duncan Hunter and the 8 thousand Dems chose John Edwards, who officially is giving up the good fight today. Oh well, maybe if we moved our primary up the Texas picks would have stood a chance. Perhaps next time.

“Texas Democrats are excited about all the candidates on the ballot,” said (soon to be former) Texas Democrats spokeswoman Amber Moon. “The Republicans don’t really have anybody that energizes them.”

I’m sitting here trying to find a way to make the delegate formulas used for Texas titillating, concise and T.V. friendly. Take a look at the formula and e-mail me with creative suggestions. It would be greatly appreciated!

So, I used the weather wall tonight to showcase my graphics and it almost looked like I knew how to use a green screen!

We had Congressman Lloyd Doggett on our morning show Sunday, previewing the SOTU, but in case you missed it, here is what he had say. If you want to see the written responses the to speech from Doggett, Hutchison and others, here they are!

You can leave your comments here.

That’s right folks. Our Democratic representative who sits on the powerful appropriations committee is appropriating her own budget to  oxymoronically  “pay volunteers.”  Check it out. For 8 bucks an hour you can be part of the Democratic process.

O.k., to be fair they’re not calling you a volunteer but a canvasser. However, it will be interesting to see if she’s really feeling the heat in this upcoming primary against Brian Thompson. Will her Craddick support hurt her or is it Craddick dollars paying your new salary? Hey, I can’t tease her too much…she did get me a pic with Walter Cronkite at the Capitol. It sits on my desk as we speak.

Republican Senator Kyle Janek is going to announce his resignation tomorrow at 1 in the Lt. Gov’s press room. The official reason is family. He’s expected to stay in office until early March. We’ll expect to see who wants that seat soon.

I’ll be liveblogging the State of the Union tonight right here. Once President Bush starts speaking, click refresh for new content at the top of this post.

(8:04)–Bush is late but he’s finally walking in. Just saw Condie!

(8:06)–Someone just tried to hug Bush but he pulled away…perhaps a little grumpy this evening? Meanwhile, Obama and Ted Kennedy talking and laughing (Obama clapping, Kennedy not)

(8:08)–There’s Cheney!!! Haven’t seen him since the infamous shooting…and Pelosi with a Chesire cat grin… waiting for this day.

(8:10)-Dems and Repubs comprising for results Bush? Where is that veto pen….

(8:14)-Bush cracked a joke and received thunderous applause (on one side). Alluding to Bill Clinton saying as a rich man he should pay higher taxes. Bush says to those who want to pay higher taxes, the IRS accepts checks and credit cards (so do I).

(8:15)-There’s that veto pen. And, he’s getting rid of special interest projects attached to bills. Starting to sound like McCain…or Ron Paul.

(8:17)-Standing ovation number three! Bush doesn’t like the idea of playing lame duck. He’s playing hardball.

(8:21)-No child left behind is bi-partisan Bush says. No Democrats clap.

(8:22)-Wait, didn’t he just say no more government spending? Next breath—300 million dollars for Pell grants?

(8:26)-Hmmm, a green energy program (except for the countries we trade most with and own all of our debt, of course).

(8:28)-Wow, another point to back up his halt on government spending…increase federal spending on science research.

(8:31)-Pelosi’s bored. She’s now reading the program.

(8:32)-He wants a bipartisan solution to entitlement programs (too bipartisan might get the veto pen)

(8:34)-Resounding applause on that one-treat illegal immigrants humanely upholding U.S. laws (aka-no Gitmo)

(8:36)-Ha, ha. As Bush promises to deliver justice to enemies, Pelosi had a moment of confusion. Sit or stand? Too late, already started moving..must stand.

(8:38) Wow, everyone stands for the troop surge in Afghanistan! (Here comes the shameless plug: check out my stories from Afghanistan HERE)

(8:41) Here’s what Republicans were hoping for…mention of recent success in Iraq. Condi’s standing for this one.

(8:43)-Uh oh. Thunderous applause from one side of room for Iraq, boos and shouts from the other side. Looks like partisanship is alive and well.

(8:45)-That little trickster. He gets the Dems to stand for “supporting the troops” then makes them back it up with “funding our troops.” They didn’t stand for that part of the deal.

(8:50)-We’re still defeating the enemy.

(8:51)-Condi looks somber…its her job to compromise with the enemy.

(8:53)-We have no beef with Iran! Does Ahmedinejad know this?

(8:56)-Cheney hesitates on whether to stand for America opposing genocide in Sudan. Maybe he’s just out of shape.

Interesting tidbit: Our help in developing agriculture is working in Afghanistan. That country had its most successful poppy-growing year yet last year (93% of world’s heroin).

(9:02)-Its over with any major mishaps…now, the fun begins!

Maybe he’ll hug that bald guy now.

(9:05)-He’s signing autographs…might be worth something big if he really does bring peace to Israel and Palestine as he plans to do this final year in office.

What do you think? Will Bush bring peace to the Middle East? Did this speech help the Republicans? Help the Democrats? And, finally, is Bush really moving to Dallas?