T. Boone Pickens is in town today and we have an exclusive one on one interview with the oil tycoon. He’s been a busy man lately…keeping an eye on OPEC, asking Nancy Pelosi for $28 billion in bailout money for natural gas trucks and figuring out a way to build his wind farm without the money to finance it. Tune in tonight at 6 p.m. to see what he has to say about his recent activities.

I just finished our first episode (?) of Session ‘09 Austin News In-Depth! I think it went pretty well for a first show…so no complaints here. We had an in-depth interview with Rep. Joe Straus and then a roundtable with political experts Ross Ramsey, Jim Henson and Hans Klingler. They moved the show right along since they are all comfortable speaking on camera and having different opinions.

I’m already working on lining guests up for next week, although we’ll have to see what goes down at the Capitol this week before I know what will be newsworthy. If you want any questions or comments to appear on the air, then shoot me an e-mail at politics@kxan.com

Thanks for watching if you did and if you didn’t, check it out at kxan.com!

I got my official request in the mail today. It reads “As a leader in the local area, we ask you to join us as a Charter Member of Kay’s Central Texas team…Kay shares our Texas values and optimistic vision. She is focused and has what it takes to be a Governor who makes Texans proud.” This kind letter is accompanied by a simple request for a thank you note in the form of $25, $50, $100, …. and $1,000 donation.

Meanwhile, Governor Perry is in Iraq with the troops. I’ll be chatting with him about this issue and others in the 5 p.m. news, so tune in!

I think “pay to play” will become the catchphrase of 2008/2009 as the investigation into Blagojevich continues. I just want to know when pundits and journalists alike got the word that the expression will be used as often as possible to make it a household name.  The best part is how everyone now uses the expression with ease…as if we’ve never called good old fashioned “bribery” anything else.

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!

For those of you who have been following the controversy surrounding Speaker of the Texas House, Tom Craddick, you’ll be happy to know the drama begins before the legislative session does. On Sunday, Oct. 19th, Craddick will debate his challenger, Democrat Bill Dingus. You can tune in to KXAN Austin News for all the action!

Now that the latest campaign finance reports have been released, here’s the low down on these two guys:

Dingus: $ 126,315.00

Craddick:  $ 177,572.78

In the Williamson County race to replace Rep. Mike Krusee (R-Round Rock), Democrat Diana Maldonado is coming out ahead in the latest campaign finance reports released. Maldanado reported $227,293 in contributions between July 1 and September 25, 2008. Her Republican contender, Bryan Daniel, raised $84,874 in that same time period. The majority of Maldonado’s contributions came from small donations; $30,000 of Daniel’s money came from Republican donor Bob Perry.

In all, I was less than enthused with tonight’s debate. I will definitely say the most memorable moment for me was when Sen. Biden almost started crying on stage after Sarah Palin insinuated he didn’t know what it was like for a mom to raise kids alone. Biden immediately reminded the public that he lost his wife and daughter in a car crash and had to raise two sons who were injured in that wreck. His voice then cracked and his eyes teared up…

We’ll hear what the pundits have to say soon enough.

It’s an hour into the debate and here’s what I’ve learned so far:

1. These two agree on energy, same sex civil rights and the problems on “Main Street” resulting from the corruption on “Wall Street”

2. Sarah Palin does not like answering the questions she is asked but loves to talk about energy

3. Both of them have brushed up on their numbers when it comes to the number of times each presidential candidate has voted for energy, military and tax policies

4. They both love Israel

oh and I’m almost forgot….

5. To learn how the economy is doing, all you need to do is ask a soccer mom

As I’ve been covering the bailout bill that failed in the House (thanks in part to several of our home grown Texas lawmakers) I’ve encountered a recurring sentiment among the politicians: surprise. None of them can believe that they are all in agreement when it comes to such an important vote. Rep. Carter’s spokesman said he couldn’t believe when he saw Rep. Doggett’s name on the same side of the nay list. Doggett’s reps said the same thing. So, if there is one good thing that has come out of all this: a newfound camaraderie… maybe crossing party lines isn’t that bad after all.