Before you get carried away, I am not talking about the 2011 event that will determine how our state’s electoral lines are drawn, though I am glad to have hooked some readers. No, I am issuing a cheer for the actions of the University Interscholastic League (UIL).

The UIL has just redrawn school district competition lines and the changes made will affect the most important line, the bottom line.

Proponents of higher taxes, less government accountability and no transparency gathered in Austin yesterday at the behest of their ally State Sen. John Carona. The cheerleading for bad policy and reckless economics lasted all day.

While I agree with Michael Sullivan that it was nice to hear Kay Bailey Hutchison on Friday push against the proposed gasoline tax hikes and other revenue grabs proposed by the proponents of boondoggles like light-rail. But her new oppositions to such porkbarrel spending stands in contrast to her senatorial record of pushing the grossly wasteful Amtrak on American taxpayers.

Clearly, everyone is convinced their candidate won the Friday night Belo debate of Republican gubernatorial candidates. Sure, whatever. In reality, there was one clear loser: the gas-tax lobby.

While State Rep. Todd Smith (R-Euless) has said it was Republicans who killed the recent legislative effort to require photo identification when voting, he is getting it partially right. He’s a Republican (sort of), and he made sure it died. We offer here a timeline of his inaction.

Texas has obviously not been immune from the effects of the global recession — brought on in no small part by the sheer fiscal irresponsibility of Congress. But as Ray Perryman, the Waco economist noted recently, Texas is the “last in, first out” of the recession. Pretty good place to be in general, as Fortune, Forbes, the Economist and the Wall Street Journal all keep reporting. But that doesn’t mean it’s great for everyone, which is the bad news.

LUBBOCK – Candidate for the Republican nomination for Texas governor Debra Medina, in a Thursday appearance on radio show Pratt on Texas, refused to commit to support the Republican nominee for Texas governor if she is not the Party’s nominee. Medina hinted at there being other candidates on the November ballot she might support.

While the average voter may not remember the redistricting fights every 10 years, political insiders know what is at stake this next election: drawing the lines that will lead to a majority of one party or another in the state house.

In 2008 Democrat Carol Kent picked off incumbent Republican Tony Goolsby to win House District 102. This year there are two Republicans vying to retake that seat Geoff Bailey and Stefani Carter. On the campaign trail you can recognize Bailey pretty easily; he is the sporting a “I want to raise your gas tax!” bumper sticker — and is proud of it.