Today, Bill Dingus scored a victory inside a Travis County District Court. Sure, it was a Travis County judge deciding on a Midland election, but Dingus contends this case was about voters’ rights to have a choice. Judge Margaret Cooper ruled that Dingus could stay on the ballot for November and run against Rep. Tom Craddick, who has been in the legislature for 40 years.

The controversy was over Dingus’ city council position, which he held when he formally announced his run for the Democratic seat in the election. The Republican Party of Texas then wrote a note to the TX Democratic Party, which brought the issue to Federal court and lost. However, this time Dingus got involved and sued the Democratic Party (that’s the only group he could sue) and got a “liberal” Travis County judge to rule in his favor (according to the Republican party). So, it looks like Craddick may have some competition, but in a Republican majority district, today may be Dingus’ only victory.

Craddick’s office response: “The speaker expected to have an opponent and looks forward to campaigning this fall.”

And, who says politics is too partisan? See, look at how the nice Republican is willing to help the Democrats out!

An attorney for Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick has reversed himself and now says the Republican speaker specified that his $250,000 donation to a political committee go to several House Democrats who supported him.

Last month, when Travis County prosecutors began investigating the donations, Austin lawyer Roy Minton denied that Craddick had directed how the money be spent. Craddick’s donation was to the Texas Jobs & Opportunity Build a Secure Future committee.

But on Tuesday, Minton said Christi Craddick, the speaker’s daughter who runs his political operation, wrote the Texas Jobs committee a letter in January asking it to give $50,000 each to four Democratic incumbents who had opponents in the March 4 primaries.

“Of course, they were happy to do it,” Minton told the Austin American-Statesman. “Tom knew everything that was going on.”

“He doesn’t understand the legislative process,” said Rep. Dawnna Dukes this afternoon when I asked why her opponent, Brian Thompson, was accusing her of not supporting CHIP. “I was a major co-sponsor of House Bill 109, which was the children’s health insurance bill and expanded the program to bring on an additional 133 thousand children,” she said.

Earnest 27 year old Brian Thompson says Dukes has compromised her Democratic policies to earn favor with House Speaker Tom Craddick. He put out a t.v. ad showing Craddick holding a white envelope while talking to her on the house floor. When I questioned Dukes about the mysterious contents of the mysterious envelope, she told me it was a rosary she had put in an envelope for friends of Craddick who were converting to Catholicism and didn’t know where to get a rosary. Uhm, they could try a church, a Christian store or Marshalls. But, that’s just my opinion.

Texans for Public Justice filed a complaint with the Travis County D.A.’s office, accusing the Texas Speaker of essentially buying votes to his speaker’s seat. The Quorum Report broke the story last week that Speaker Tom Craddick contributed $250,000 to the Texas Jobs PAC…money that protestors say is going ot Democrats running who will support Craddick as Speaker in 2009.

The D.A.’s office responded to the complaint, saying   “The complaint received today from Texans for Public Justice regarding Tom Craddick and the Texas Jobs PAC is being reviewed by the Public Integrity Unit In order to determine whether there has been a violation of the Texas Speakers Act, it will be necessary to gather additional information. The Public Integrity Unit is in the process of gathering such information and steps are being taken to secure relevant documents. Additional comments will be forthcoming as appropriate.”

I bet Ronnie Earle is going to miss all of this….

The Clinton campaign has reported earning more than $10 million dollars from 100,000 donors since the polls closed on Super Tuesday

“This is a major development in this race. Hillary has always had millions of strong supporters nationwide — now those supporters are beginning to give online in large numbers,” said Clinton Campaign Internet Director Peter Daou.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama is gaining traction after yesterday’s primary and caucus’s. On my morning show today, Rep. Mark Strama (D-Austin) said while Clinton may win more votes during the Texas primary, the race could still be neck and neck up until the National Convention, where Super Delegates could name the winner of the game.

If you happen to be in Houston tomorrow, word has it that U.S. Reps Sheila Jackson Lee, Gene Green and state Sen. Mario Gallegos will hold a press conference on why Hillary Clinton would be the best president for Texas. And, that’s not all that is going down.

“During the press conference, Jackson Lee, Green, and other Hillary supporters will discuss why Hillary is the best candidate to represent Texans as President, and will also respond to recent allegations made by the Barack Obama campaign that would suggest otherwise,” said Clinton’s Texas Campaign Manager Adrienne Elrod.

It could get heated…will keep you posted.

Your thoughts on if Hillary would be the best prez for the old Lone Star State?

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst denied TxDOT’s claim that they are out of money. Now, Senators are trying to figure out the TxDOT riddle as well. The Senate Finance Committee and Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee met this morning for three hours to tackle TxDot. Also today, Sen. Kirk Watson again called TxDOT untrustworthy.

“Texans today saw convincing evidence of a fact that many of us have known – they cannot trust the Texas Department of Transportation or the policies that are consigning Texas to inadequate roads and privatized toll ways,” said Watson in released statement.

We’ll have to see how TxDOT holds up under Watson’s wrath.

If you plan on voting in the Texas primaries, you have until Monday (Feb 4th) to register.  You can also check the status of your registration online. So, get out and register—this is historical folks!

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.