Primary results from national/state/local races: So even though it seems that Hillary won the Texas primary (it's interesting that Obama led in statewide early voting), Obama may beat her in delegate numbers. In the GOP race, McCain is now the GOP candidate as Huckabee gives up the ghost. In Travis County, Ron Paul won 17% of the vote . . . ...

Super Tuesday's results mean our state's primary actually has an impact on the Presidential nomination this year. Anyone remember the last time that happened? SxSW founder on unofficial SxSW parties: "Knowing that our continued existence is far from guaranteed makes us willing to fight (when we can) what we see as damaging to SXSW." Name of boy who died at Austin charter school has been released by his family; Tevin Park-Flowers was seven-years-old when he died on Friday. Update on a fall post: Parents who left their babies in the car while they enjoyed margaritas in Hutto have been sentenced to one year in jail....

I've decided to out myself about something that will shock even my closest friends. Hell, it might even get me fired. Oh well. Here goes. All day, Monday through Friday, I listen to conservative talk radio on 590-KLBJ. Being a lifelong, card-carrying Democrat, some folks might guess my husband turned me on to it—but this is all me. It began about a year ago in a desperate move fueled by pregnancy hormones. A bona-fide Morning Edition junkie, I needed a break from the incessant negative news, so I decided to find out what the enemy was up to. Somehow...I got hooked. Here's a brief run-down of what life is like on the other side....

Today's Mega News Bits by Patrick Dentler and Rebecca Onion Asian markets fall; the Fed is really, really worried. Not convinced Giuliani's a dangerous, power-mad nutcase? Read this. The Great iPhone Heist! Tom Brady limps through the streets of New York with a walking boot on his foot. (The question is, what the hell was he doing in enemy territory in the first place?) Unhappy news for pregnant ladies, those who must inhabit the......

On Sunday night - before my sinuses joined the writer's strike - I fancied myself a Rockwell-ian protagonist. In my crappy efficiency apartment, I laid leisurely in an armchair, reading Yeats and watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I also made laborious use of the first-person singular and listened to a new Bavu Blakes song, which arrived in my inbox that night. ...

Last week, Senate Bill 1317 passed the Senate in a highly partisan vote thanks in large part to lobbying efforts by Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst. The bill itself, if made law, would limit the scope of a city's jurisdiction by making it illegal for any city to regulate air pollution (or, presumably, anything else) beyond its borders. However, despite what many Senators who voted for this bill will tell you, this bill isn't about municipal......

Our Craigslist Missed Connections guru is taking a break this week, but one of our readers was kind enough to pass along this, uhh, little treasure. Let's just say this isn't the first time we've come across an anonymous admirer fawning over the Mayor of Rock and Roll: Mayor Will Wynn and the Gold-digging Hoochie Mamas - w4m - 33 Reply to: pers-322663324@craigslist.org Date: 2007-05-01, 8:54PM CDT Mayor Will Wynn, you are hot. Really, what......

Ever wonder where all of that campaign money comes form each year? Who’s really running this state/country/etc? Well, to find out who’s got some of those most pull among politicians, you have to look no further than Texas’ own Bob Perry. The Houston homebuilder gave more money to candidates in the last election cycle than any other individual, according to a report issued by Texans for Public Justice. The non-profit group, which believes campaign......

When you see Damien Brockmann strolling down Congress Avenue, tip your hat, or at least offer a salute nestled somewhere between the Queen's wave and Truman Capote's famed fingers-to-forehead wrist-flick. Why? Because Citizen Damien has been tirelessly laboring to rescue America from its fekockteh political scene. Lucky for us, he's intent on saving Austin first, and doing it by offering up a new website called BillHop.com. A wiki/blog/safe haven for political junkees, the site tracks......

Phil Smart entered a Waxahachie bank in 2004, pulled a knife on bank employees, then put the knife on his own wrist and asked the employees if they wanted to be “blood brothers.” Probably not the best way to kick off your run for State Senate. The CPA from Palmer--initially charged with felony aggravated assault which was then lowered to misdemeanor assault--received two years of deferred adjudication for his freak-out, which occurred during a previous......

The war in Iraq is an unqualified mess, confidence in elected officials seems to be at a low and Republican leaders are scrambling trying to get some cover. Enter John Kerry. The former presidential candidate made a “botched joke” (his words, not ours) involving college students, the Iraqi quagmire and George Bush, and Republicans are taking the opportunity to turn the tables on the Democrats in hopes of generating some traction before next week’s mid-term......

A new group in Austin called W.O.R.D. (Women Organizing to Revive Democracy) is throwing a bash tomorrow evening in support of Chris Bell. The event will feature appearances by State Rep. Donna Howard, slam poet Genevieve Van Cleve, and Liz Carpenter’s Yellow Dog Democrat mask. The goal is to provide a place for local Democratic women to gather, learn more about Chris Bell, and hopefully rally behind him. So break out of your Perry-induced......

That guy in the black cowboy outfit is Kinky Friedman, speaking to students yesterday morning at UT's The Union Ballroom. Outside The Union, students in support of Democrat Chris Bell protest the Kinkster's appearance.......

Generally, people don’t think “Democrat” when they think about Texas. It wasn’t always like that, though. The Lone Star State was decidedly “blue” for over a hundred years before the Republicans swept in during the last decade. As a consequence, the Democratic Party, trying to allocate resources wisely, doesn’t generally send a lot of clout or cash our way. The times they are a-changin', though. Howard Dean, head of the Democratic Party, came down......

It’s the primary season of the 2006 midterm elections across America, and the name of the game is “motivating your base voters.” So, bring on the rhetoric and rabble-rousing! The politicophiles at the Austinist offer you the following tidbits: This week, in Connecticut: Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman – the centrist, moderate candidate – lost his primary to Ned Lamont, the antiwar candidate. The Connecticut Democratic Party has united behind Lamont with passionate gusto. As......

We like Chris Bell; we really do. He's a (oxymoron alert - to preempt any comments from snarky readers) great lawyer and a proven civic leader with his heart in the right place. We'd love to see him win the governor's mansion. We really would. We miss the days when the big white house at 11th and Colorado was occupied by a Democrat. We even shed a little tear into our sour cream at Las......

We are saddened by the report that goober candidate Carole Cougar Keeton Strayhorn has decided to relinquish her fight to get her nickname on the Nov. ballot. Mrs. Cougar will always be a "grandma" in our eyes and probably in the eyes of her grandchildren. In other goober news: Democratic candidate Chris Bell is calling UberGoober Rick Perry out on his lack of efforts to fund our state parks. Texas ranks near the bottom......

Rep. Tom DeLay is apparently pulling out of the race for re-election to his House seat. CNN has reported that, just minutes ago, DeLay completed a conference call with the Texas delegation to the House, announcing his plans. In order to field a Republican candidate for the general election, there will be a special election for DeLay's place on the ballot. The Mayor of Sugarland is expected to be one of the candidates running.......

Lt. Gov. Dewy announced that Feb. 14 will be the runoff election date in the House District 48 race. It will be Democrat Donna Howard against republican Ben Bentzin, and the blood will flow my friends. It's real; it's raw. It's the House District 48 showdown! The governor's race is already getting spicy! Independent candidate Carole Strayhorn says that she is against private school vouchers. In fact, Strayhorn has accused Gov. Ricky of dismantling......

In the race to represent House District 48, Democrat Donna Howard and Republican Ben Bentzin made it through Round One on Tuesday and will meet in a runoff election to see who will replace Todd Baxter in the Texas House. Democrat Kathy Rider and Libertarian Ben Easton finished third and fourth and are now free to vote for Donna Howard. She received 49.5% of the vote, against Bentzin's 37.8 % which might shock some......

Well Ricky Perry has launched his "Proud of Texas" campaign tour, and we feel it's time to carve out the competition he faces. Perryheads say that Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is his most potent rival. You may recall that she surprised folks recently by declaring that she is running as an independent. We're somewhat concerned that she misspelled her name on the candidate form, but we're pretty sure Ricky can't spell her name either.......

We love a good tailgate party every so often, and we're starting to get a little excited about the upcoming primaries in March, which is why we're passing this tidbit onto you: Former assistant county attorney Sarah Eckhardt, daughter of former US Rep. Bob Eckhardt from Houston, announced earlier in the week her intention to run against incumbent Democrat Karen Sonleitner for the Precinct 2 seat on the Travis County Commissioners Court. Running on......

"I'm on the pavement thinking about the government,The man in the trench coat, badge out, laid off, says he's got a bad cough wants to get paid off." Austin City Council tries to clean up downtown’s image by dealing with solicitors and the homeless. Soliciting during daytime? OK. Panhandling at night? That's a no-no. Couldn’t they get those Jesus-freaks off 6th and Congress? Everytime we look at them we think of that creepy old......

The Hammer continues endeavoring to get his trial moved over to his home county of Fort Bend, or at the very least out of our neighborhood, complaining that here in the "People's Republic of Travis County" it'd be damn near impossible to find an impartial jury. Democratic group The Lone Star Project claims otherwise, citing figures showing that "averaging Travis County election percentages for the Democratic and Republican candidates in five top races from......

Tom DeLay succeeded yesterday in having Judge Bob Perkins removed from his money-laundering and conspiracy case, complaining that the Democrat had donated over $5,000 to "liberal" causes since 2001. While a new judge has yet to be named, The Hammer's already working on his next weaselly tactic: having the trial moved out of Austin. Ridiculously, his indictment hearings have become something of a farce - it's hard to remember that the whole thing stems......

The past few days have been fantastic for Austin's oenophiles: late last week Governer Perry signed into law Senate Bill 877, allowing wineries across the country to ship their wares directly to consumers here in Texas. Today, the US Supreme Court took this one step further, effectively declaring it unconstitutional to prevent out-of-state wineries and Internet merchants from shipping wines to customers in states who would otherwise require them to go through large distributors.......

The Texas cheerleading reform bill which was passed by the House of Representatives and sent to the State Senate on May 3rd is getting precisely the amount of time and consideration from the Education Committee that it deserves. None. This Bill, authored by Rep. Al Edwards, D-Houston, attempted to give the State and school districts more power to punish cheerleading and drill teams for performing sexually explicit routines and dressing too provocatively. Al Edwards......

Long before we had to suffer through the bumbling speeches, disingenuous double talk, war mongering and religious-right pandering of George W. Bush, Americans enjoyed two terms of prosperity under the leadership of one of the smartest, slickest and most controversial presidents of the 20th century. Historians and citizens alike may remember President Bill Clinton for his extraordinary successes, think first president to balance the budget in 30 years, or they may remember him for......

Senator Gonzalo Barrientos, an Austin Democrat, is killing a bill he drafted to have a 49-mile stretch of Texas Highway 130 named after legendary country crooner, Willie Nelson. Republican senators Steve Odgen of Bryan and Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio disapprove of the name (which would cross their districts) because of Nelson’s notorious rock ‘n roll lifestyle and his outspoken support of the Democratic party. Which other local celebrities deserve to have things named after......