In short, Murray’s got a bit of a rosier outlook, pointing to White’s fluency in Spanish, his deep-pocketed donors and his base in Houston. Jillson is less convinced, pointing to Texas’ historical tendency to vote Republican by as much as a 10 point margin.

As I’ve said before elsewhere, Perry is beatable. He’s got plenty to be confronted about, and he’s also lost the thing that helped him win over Kay Bailey Hutchison – Washington. Without being able to pin his opponent to Washington, and subsequently blame for every evil thing, Perry may have to do a little more nimble dancing to avoid being pinned as the governor that was in office when the state faced a potential $11B budget shortfall, who probably should’ve let Todd Willingham have a new trial, and whose universally-reviled legacy project – the Trans Texas Corridor – has bit the dust.

I mean, sure, he can and already has tried to paint White as an Obama advisor and Washington insider, but it’s going to be a little harder to really pound those dots like it was with Hutchison.

So … does White stand a chance?

Says Hunter:

It was never hush money. Ever. Fred gave me the money as a gift with no strings attached. And Johnny always said to me I could talk to the media whenever I wanted, and whatever I did would never affect his relationship with Quinn. Me not talking to the press was my own personal choice based on what I felt was best for me and my daughter and based upon my feelings for how the media operates.

Fred was a very kind and generous man. He even paid for a security guard when he was concerned about our safety. And in May ‘08, Fred and Lisa [Blue, his wife] came to visit me in Santa Barbara and to meet Quinn, and Fred just flat out asked me, “How can I help you, and what do you need?” because Fred knew I needed to get away from the Youngs. I’d just given birth to a baby, the tabloids were stalking me, and he wanted to help.

But now for a public service announcement: Until they make a Silkwood shower for your brain, for the love of God don’t go read the description of the sex tape found on The Daily Beast.

2. You know how you stop graffiti? You cover your walls with pictures painted by local kids. You have to be a pretty big jerk to scribble your name on that. In related news, Jason Roberts, everyone’s favorite bicycle enthusiast, is branching out, launching Go Oak Cliff. Go Oak Cliff describes itself as “a non-profit news, advocacy, and quality of life organization focused on supporting and inspiring the Historic Oak Cliff Community.” Sounds like Jason is looking for a way to do stuff without being referred to as “the bike guy.”

3. As a former moderately-decent center who grew up in a hockey-obsessed corner of a northern state, I can confirm: the hockey season starts with the playoffs. That’s why it is always sad when you don’t make the party.

2. I’m starting to feel like the Monday barker who brings bad DISD news. This week’s sad song: ten of more than 30 DISD high schools are considered chronically failing.

3. A simple question for you to fight out in the comments: who is going to enjoy the Dallas Zoo’s six new elephants more: Elizabeth Lavin or John Carona?

– The cover story: Wick asked if there had been any blow-back from party members, as you would expect from a story titled “The Last Republican.” Wick mentioned that State Rep. Dan Branch, for one, had taken issue with it. Carona said he hadn’t really experienced any negative reaction — “Most people just want to know how they got me to sit so still on the elephant” — but added with a laugh that Branch probably wouldn’t have had any problems if he were up there with him, on the back of the elephant. Neerman said that his office hadn’t taken any angry calls. But, he said, anyone who might have had a problem with it doesn’t like him, either, and likely wouldn’t have bothered calling.

– Gas tax: This was the real meat of the discussion. Carona, as he did in Wick’s story, pointed out that there is no money for new road construction and, with the population of North Texas (well, he said “Metroplex,” but that’s a fake word) continuing to grow, there is a need for new road construction. We will see gridlock the likes of which has never been experienced here or in Houston, he said. The Lege’s answer, since they are averse to any sort of across-the-board tax, is toll roads. Which, he said, does nothing to put money in the road construction fund.

The other problem with that, Carona said, is that toll roads are still a tax — since in the near future, everyone will have to use a toll road at some point — and it’s an expensive one. A modest hike of the 20¢ gas tax (he is only interested in raising it by a dime) would cost the average citizen around $100 per year, or about $8 per month. Our toll-road future, on the other hand, will cost some people as much as $8 per day, and others even more. (The managed lanes on LBJ, for instance, will fluctuate throughout the day — heavy users of that could be looking at something more like $12 per day.) But special interests keep pushing toll roads.

– Another problem with toll roads: until recently, private developers of the road were allowed to sign 70-year contracts to build and collect revenue on the roads. The Lege now has it knocked down to 50 years, but Carona wishes it were something more reasonable, like 30 years. No dice, so far.

– The week’s primaries: Neerman said that Republican turnout was a record high, more than three times what they saw in 2008, and certainly a surprise for an off-year election. But both he and Neerman cautioned their colleagues and party members not to rest easy on those numbers. They said they won’t know until the general election if Texas is suffering from “Rick Perry fatigue” and that it is way too soon to count Democrat Bill White out of things, since he is beloved in Houston by both parties and is pro-business. They also said no one goes to the polls to vote on judges races, and I think we can all agree with that.

It was a thought-provoking talk that I’m sure I mis-characterized in some way. But Glenn was there, so I’ll bet he can fill in any blanks. Or we can immediately forget about the talk and have it out about the gas tax, Obama, or whatever in the comments. We could maybe even do both.

Fundamentalist Don McLeroy was kicked out of his seat on the State Board of Education. McLeroy is an ideologue of the bright stripe kind, whose fixations were allowed to become Texas public education policy. My friend Tincy Miller was also, unfortunately, kicked off the board, but her surprise replacement, teacher George Clayton, seems like a refreshing addition:

“As an educator, I see the question of curriculum and textbook content as a simple task; both should be agenda free”

The best news of all is that the worst member of them all,  Cynthia Dunbar, is off the board, to be replaced by either Marsha Farney or Brian Russell. Russell may not seem on first blush like much of an improvement, but so far he has not yet proven to be certifiably insane.

Kate Alexander in the Austin American-Statesman article linked to above calls this a loss for “conservatives.” How wrong. Those people aren’t “conservatives.” They’re fanatics. And good riddance to them.

Of course, the comments — 15 of them — were posted from a computer in Craig Watkins’ campaign office. That ain’t cricket.

To you and me, whether she resigns in one month or six months may not matter so much. But there are a host of would-be United States Senators out there, including our own illustrious mayor, waiting for the moment when they can jump into a special election race. While Kay Bailey flips this way and that on talk radio, they have to be going a little stir crazy.

“Is this crossover good news for Kay Bailey Hutchison?  Not necessarily, but I doubt that they are crossing over to stand up and be counted for Rick Perry.”