The Midday Brief: January 5, 2010

Your afternoon reading:  

• “Over the coming days, I hope to collect those thoughts in this post, and on this post -- a permanent place online, if we can, where he can be remembered.” — Kelly Fero, In Memoriam — Burnt Orange Report

• “One of an incumbent's advantages was on full display in south Texas Tuesday where Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White and Governor Rick Perry made appearances.” — Governor and challenger descend on south Texas — Associated Press

• “Unlike Republicans and Democrats, the Libertarian Party of Texas holds county, district, and state conventions to nominate their candidates for public office.  County conventions will be held on March 13th.  District conventions will be held on March 20th.  Libertarians will nominate their candidate for Governor and other statewide officials at the June 12th State Convention in Austin at the Radisson North Hotel.” —193 Libertarians File for Office — Texas Insider

• “U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison -- who plans to air a 30-second ad during the Texas-Alabama game Thursday in her battle to unseat GOP Gov. Rick Perry -- also is betting smoked turkey on the outcome in a friendly wager with U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama.” — KBH may have more riding on Texas-Alabama game than Perry does — Texas Politics  

• “Only five years old, Afghanistan's new political scene can bear a striking resemblance to Congress and state legislatures in America. Saturday's proceedings could have been a day in the life of the Texas House, right down to the video cameras, sharp debate and photo that runs in the next day's newspaper.” — Afghan parliament in action: It's a lot like the Texas legislature. Really. — Texas on the Potomac

• “When it comes to getting the best bang for your college buck, the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Dallas rank pretty high, according to Kiplinger, the personal finance and business publisher.” — UT-Austin tops Kiplinger list of Texas' value colleges — Fort Worth Star-Telegram

• “Until recently, Texas’s influence was balanced to some degree by the more-liberal pull of California, the nation’s largest textbook market. But its economy is in such shambles that California has put off buying new books until at least 2014. This means that McLeroy and his ultraconservative crew have unparalleled power to shape the textbooks that children around the country read for years to come.” — Revisionaries — Washington Monthly

New in the Texas Tribune:

• “Now that the filing period's over, candidates, help us help you.” — HuTube: Candidate Video Project — The Texas Tribune

• “Jesse Lewis will be the new executive director of the Texas Republican Party, starting next week.” — 2010: A New Chief at the Texas GOP — The Texas Tribune  

• “You may have heard that Cook County has subpoenaed Northwestern, and in particular Professor David Protess' investigative journalism class, over its review of the Anthony McKinney case.” — TribBlog: Northwestern U. Investigation Hits Home — The Texas Tribune

• “Democrat Linda Chavez-Thompson entered the race for Texas lieutenant governor on Monday, which sets up a three-way primary race with former Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle and restaurant-owner Marc Katz.” — Meet Linda Chavez-Thompson — The Texas Tribune