DRIFTWOOD -- At about 10 p.m., 10-year incumbent Gov. Rick Perry took the stage at the Salt Lick BBQ restaurant southwest of Austin to announce that U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison called to congratulate him on his victory.

Hundreds of supporters, including capitol and campaign staffers, erupted in applause and dozens of bloogers and reporters from around the state scribbled away.

Brandon Aghamalian and Snapper Carr, both formerly of HillCo Partners, gave $500 each to Rep. Vicki Truitt's (R-Keller) GOP primary campaign on Feb. 26, telegram reports at the Texas Ethics Commission indicate.

Aghamalian worked for HillCo PAC during the 2009 regular session, when the lobby group coordinated under contract with local governments around the state to push for passage of the Texas Local Option Transportation Act (TLOTA). That bill, which would have allowed local governments to place optional gas tax increases on the ballot to pay for local transportation projects, incurred the wrath of government spending watchdog groups like Texans' for Fiscal Responsibility. TLOTA would not have allowed voters to lower their local gas taxes.

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Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison have each released new attack ads saying ... well, not much new.

Here's Perry's:


Here's Hutchison's:


Here's the script for Perry's ad:

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The Texas Civil Justice League Political Action Committee (TCJL PAC), a lawsuit reform group, today released a list of endorsements for the upcoming primary elections.

It's mostly Republicans, with a few Democrats mostly from the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso, all of whom have a history of supporting tort reform.

The TCJL PAC has announced support for the following candidates for statewide elected office (all Republicans):

*=Incumbent
-Governor Rick Perry*
-Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst* (R)
-Attorney General Greg Abbott* (R)
-Comptroller Susan Combs* (R)
-Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples* (R)
-Railroad Commission Victor Carrillo* (R)
-Supreme Court, Place 9 Eva Guzman* (R)

Other endorsements include:

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The Young Conservatives of Texas added to its endorsement list this week. Here they are:

For the State Board of Education, Republicans:
Joanie Muenzler,
Don McLeroy,
Geraldine “Tincy” Miller, and
Randy Rives.

McLeroy and Miller are incumbents. Muenzler is running for the seat vacated by Rick Agosto’s (D-San Antonio) retirement, and Rives is running against incumbent Bob Craig (R-Lubbock).

For Texas Supreme Court, the group also endorsed
Rick Green for the open seat on the Texas Supreme Court and
incumbent Eva Guzman for re-election.

YCT endorsed Dave McIntyre in Congressional District 17 (incumbent Chet Edwards, D-Waco).

For the State Legislature, YCT backed Republicans
Raul Torres in HD 33,
Mike Murphy in HD 65,
Charles Perry in HD 83,
John Frullo in HD 84,
David Andrews in HD 85, and
Fernando Herrera in HD 148.

Frullo is running for the Carl Isett (R-Lubbock) open seat. (We cover that race and the primary challenge against Delwin Jones [R-Lubbock] in this week's issue.) The rest are running against incumbents.

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Rep. Terri Hodge (D-Dallas), treasurer of the House Democratic Caucus, this morning announced that she is quitting her campaign for re-election to House District 100 and pleading guilty to a single charge of making a false statement by failing to report income on her personal tax returns -- a felony. She pled this morning in federal court.

Hodge had drawn a primary opponent, a Dallas lawyer Eric Johnson. As the Republicans have not fielded a candidate for the seat, Johnson is all but a shoo-in. Hodge's name will remain on the ballot.

The Austin American Statesman has the story.

Also the Dallas Morning News has the press release from Hodge's campaign.

The effect of Hodge's guilty plea means that upon sentencing, she will be immediately ineligible to ever serve in public office again. It carries a maximum of three years in prison. Although she will no longer be able to serve in public office (unless she receives a presidential pardon). Also, she has said that she will resign upon sentencing.

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We covered the four-way GOP primary in House District 52 this week. Here's a look at how the issue of property taxes are at play there:

Kay Bailey Hutchison may now be finally doing at least some of what she has to do in order to beat Rick Perry. Whether scarcely one and a half months is enough time for her to actually pull it out is another question. She's recently come out with real policy proposals than can be translated into bills, and running some ads that actually have a little bite.

For one, she came out today with a set of proposals to reform ("bring more sunshine to" in her campaign's words) Texas government.

One got the sense that after last night’s debate, Gov. Rick Perry was just letting it all hang out as he gave the keynote speech at the luncheon closing out the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s annual policy orientation. He improvised a number of jokes and diverted from his prepared remarks for almost two minutes at one point to reiterate his basic formula of conservative governance – a formula that has worked well as his re-election campaign mantra.

Said Perry:

You don’t have to be an expert in political science to understand the concepts of government. They’re really very simple. Don’t spend all the money. Keep taxes low. Have a regulatory environment that’s fair, and predictable.

Gov. Rick Perry's announcement today that he is refusing to compete for federal Race to the Top education dollars for education made Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie angry. But two of the state's major teacher organizations -- the Texas Classroom Teachers Association and the Texas American Federation of Teachers -- stand with Perry on the issue.

Gayle Fallon, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, explained the teacher organizations' support for Perry's decision. "Race to the Top is the first step in federalizing our Texas school systems and imposing a national high-stakes test on our children and teachers," she said. "This is not acceptable. We support Governor Perry in his refusal to sell our schools to Washington for less than $75 per student.