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Lotsa chatter out there following yesterday's re-election of Tom Craddick as House speaker.

The Texas blogosphere is filled with righteous anger and indignation against the so-called "Craddick Ds" (which include Dawnna Dukes and Patrick Rose in their ranks) who supported him in his bid.

In a press release, the Texas Freedom Network says "this unprecedented challenge to Speaker Craddick sends a clear message. House members are tired of seeing the legislative process manipulated to benefit special interests at the expense of public schools and other things important to Texas families."

Also, Paul Burka does his thing, recounting yesterday in a larger historical framework.

UPDATE: I'd be remiss not to point out the miniature Burka rebellion in the comments on the last link. There's some controversy as to whether Burka's calling the race for Craddick influenced the actual election – after all, as he notes, Burka's supposed wisdom was referenced on the floor during the debate. After all, he is no mere Texas blogger hiding behind a pseudonym.

Well, looks like Craddick gets to keep the gavel. Jim Pitts, the only contender for the speaker's chair, looked behind him, saw that his supporters would only support him if they didn't have to do it publicly, and now he's standing aside.

Point of order, people!

Oh great, now it's going to be 15 minutes until they resolve the amendment. Get familiar with the previous entries below, if you will. Thanks to Richard for blogging in my absence.

So for those of you just tuning in, here's what you've missed: jack-fucking-shit. We've spent almost four hours now delicately tinkering with the machinery of the speaker election, and getting copies xeroxed, along with any manner of assorted ephemera and goings on. It's next to impossible not to suspect that this has been a ploy for some last-minute lobbying. I don't know why we held out hope anything would be different, though. Call us romantic.

Is it just us, or has the gavel gotten bigger this session? The clerk is reading the opinion on King's objection to the secret ballot. You can't tell me they didn't think of this until now. It's a constitutional crisis!

Oh, for fuck's sake, secret ballots have been used 50 times before, we learn. King needs to loose his Craddick-inspired boner for "transparency."

The legal prattle goes on. My toss-off joke about Florida is looking more apt.

"The members must make these decisions themselves." Point of order overruled. Thank fucking God. Roger Williams looks like he's in waaaaay over his head. Still, the Craddick-heads can't let it go. Unbelievably, there's another pause to consider whether their hope that three requests for a record vote can overturn the secret ballot. Didn't we just learn no? Follow us below the fold.

And the fun begins … well, not really. Just finished reading a resolution kicking House floor onlookers outta chambers. We waited so long for this?

The ceaseless pauses give credence to speculation that Craddick's using the time to squeeze every pair he can get his hands on. Hmmm, that's a pretty nasty image.

Secretary of State Whitey Williams says a document delineating what both parties agree to in the election is coming to members' desks. Seriously, let's get some amateur videographers on those House staffers and throw that shit up on YouTube, à la the Craddick D's – maybe it'll speed things up a bit.

Still nothing. What BS. If Craddick isn't using this time to bust out the vise grip, I'll be the next speaker. Ten bucks he poured a Diet Coke in the Xerox machine.

HR 35, the voting procedure bill, is finally laid out and ready to take amendments.

Voting procedures: Paper ballots. Counted on House floor. Gotta have name and signature though. Still, I don't put a Florida-style fiasco outta reach here.

"A group of House has-beens" from the Senate invade the House to pal around. Buffet's on in 20 minutes, says Jim Keffer. You know Elliott Naishtat's ears perked up at that one.

So save some pretty egregious amendment, the ballots are secret. Doesn't bode well for Craddick, no? Eiland says one amendment would make votes public today, whereas one from Geren would make it confidential until after committee assignments. Still, a third would shred 'em once they're tabbed, secret forever! Good gawd.

Continued below the fold.

Here in the Chronicle news-heap, Channel 6 is blaring, it's five minutes to game time, and we're giddy with anticipation to see what the speaker race will bring. Will it be a nail-biter, or, as Lee Nichols compared it to the bowl game last night, a bona fide ass-whupping? We'll update here live as it happens.

Bells are ringing! And there's that creepy biker dude with the face tats who's on Public Access all the time in the gallery.

The House will convene shortly, says the screen. The house looks like a phalanx of worker ants circling around.

"Welcome to the 80th session of the Texas House of Representatives!" Lovely 1980s-era Betamax graphics of the dome.

Looks like Craddick's making it to the podium. Very surreal with no ambient or background noise; they only turn the mics on when someone's at one.

Gaveled to order. Who is this at the podium? Secretary of State Roger Williams. Invocation time. "Let's pray for some of that Roger Williams money." Is he the used car salesman?

"The Star Spangled Banner." Pax Texana. Dude belted that out. Pledges to the flags. When does Caligula's horse get sworn in?

The rest continued below the fold.

Who doesn't love a swearing in? From the Sara Eckhardt camp, here's a picture of the new county commissioner's initiation at what looks like the hobo camp called Wooldridge Square. Grace it with a caption in the comments section.

Sure, I heard reports that a photographer was camped outside of Tom Craddick's soirée last night, documenting everyone that showed up. But did I know it was on YouTube? Oh hell no! Check out this video of the "Democrats for Craddick."



No word on who filmed the video, its stars sure to reappear in a Democratic primary attack ad near you soon. A second video of everyone arriving, available here.

Just getting off the phone with a council member, I'm contemplative of long term planning for North Austin. With JC Penney gone, surrounding buildings boarded and disused, but commuter rail rounding the corner, how long can it be before Wal-Mart makes an offer on its next underutilized shopping center – in this case, Highland Mall?