While Democrats meet behind closed doors to find a speaker candidate they can gather behind and Republicans refuse to spill the beans on whether they will support Craddick, another issue reminiscent of Session ‘07 is resurfacing: the Order of the Secret Ballot in the speaker’s race (I threw a little Harry Potter lingo in there).

In a San Antonio Express news article, Craddick’s spokesperson Alexis DeLee was quoted as saying there would likely not be a secret ballot for the speaker’s race due to the number of candidates and the state constitution. This is renegade house member, Jim Dunnam’s response to that:

“Colleagues,

“Alexis DeLee, Craddick’s press secretary, was quoted in today’s San Antonio Express-News as saying that a secret ballot for Speaker was unlikely to happen because “The Texas Constitution requires a record vote to be open if requested by three members on any question. The House could close the ballot, but it will have to be open if requested by three members.”

“Alexis is wrong – and she should know better.

“As we all know, at the beginning of last session Rep. Charlie Geren offered an amendment to conduct the Speaker’s election by secret ballot, with the results published in the House Journal after committee assignments were announced. Rep. Phil King raised a point of order against further consideration of the Geren amendment on the grounds that it violated the Constitutional rule requiring a record vote on the demand of any three members.

So, after Obama won and gave his victory speech… we reporters mistakenly thought the fanfare was finished and we would now be able to go home to our cozy little beds and get a least a few hours of sleep before returning to the work the next morning. Not quite.

As soon as I walked outside of the Driskill, I heard the not so distant roar of what sounded like a Mardis Gras parade, or at the very least–the aftermath of a UT win. The sound I heard ended up being from the hundreds and hundreds of Obama supporters dancing in the streets. Guys had brought out their bongo drums, men in suits were jumping up and screaming, girls were crying with delight. It was quite a scene. Quickly realizing this was the new story of the night, I made my way into the throng and with my photographer close by, interviewed the revelers well into the night. At one point, they surrounded me and were chanting “change! change! change!” I didn’t have the heart to tell them I wasn’t Obama nor part of his administration, so there was little I could do with their reminder.

A pretty unforgettable night.

Hundreds of Obama supporters have now shown up at the Driskill Hotel and the drinks are flowing. With every Texas martini poured, the shouts of enthusiasm get a little louder. I, on the other hand, is sipping on a ridiculously large Diet Coke and watching the results come above the din of noise.

Our esteemed reporter, David Scott, is at the Four Seasons for the Republican Watch Party. At last check (6:25 p.m.) he said there is nobody there yet except for reporters. They are expecting Sen. John Cornyn to show up around 9:30 p.m. as well as Rep. Michael McCaul. While CNN is blaring on every t.v. here at the Driskill, David said FOX is on full blast at the Four Seasons…

A few dozen people have started to trickle in for the watch party here at the Driskill Hotel. The Travis County Democratic Party sent out an e-mail to 80,000 supporters to come to the event tonight. In 2004, 2500 people showed up..they are hoping to top that tonight. There are several rooms set up with t.v.’s, drink, snacks and even a D.J.

At 8:45 p.m. Andy Brown with the Travis County Democratic Party will speak. He will be followed by Boyd Richie with the Texas Democratic Party and then Rep. Lloyd Doggett and Sen. Kirk Watson.

That’s right–get ready for the chaos, confusion, speculation and emotion that comes with today. As for me, I will be covering the Democratic watch party at the Driskill Hotel and doing live reports/web updates and hopefully blog updates every hour. There are plenty of watch parties happening around town today… we will have reporters covering many of them. Please feel free to leave your observations as we chug on through the night and we’ll have plenty to talk about tomorrow!