El Paso election officials are expecting a low turnout today in the District 23 congressional runoff election between Ciro Rodriguez and Republican incumbent Henry Bonilla. Part of far East El Paso County is included in District 23. About 175 El Pasoans voted early, said County Elections Department official Helen Jamison. There are 11,400 registered voters in the El Paso portion of District 23. About 2,000 voted in the Nov. 2 election, Jamison said. "With just one item on the ballot, I hope people will come out," she said.

The Progressive Alliance of 25 leading liberal Bloggers has named their "Texan of the Year." Carolyn Boyle and her Parent PAC organization won the honors. Boyle is an Austin PR guru who created Parent PAC in 2005 to back candidates that opposed vouchers and would back greater spending in public education. The PAC had considerable success in primaries of both parties and in the general election. Boyle and Parent PAC apparently nudged out the Dallas County Democratic Party. For a more detailed look at Parent PAC visit our friends at www.Capitolann ex.com.

A new Rasmussen poll finds that 68% of Americans believe securing the US border is more important than legalizing the status of undocumented workers already in the country. Only 23% believe changing the status illegal immigrants should be the priority. While 81% of Republicans say securing the border should be the top priority, that view is shared by 57% of Democrats and 69% of independents. Just 10% of Americans believe it’s very likely that serious immigration reform will be passed by Congress in the next couple of years. Another 33% say serious reform is “somewhat” likely. Just 43% believe Congress will approved strict sanctions on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Employer sanctions were among the most popular proposals among voters.

When state lawmakers convene this January, they are expected to see $15 billion in surplus revenues – the largest surplus in state history. That surplus represents $15 billion taken from taxpayers over and above what has been needed to operate state government.

The Texas Municipal League (TML) sent out an email to all of its members across the state last night making it clear that it will vigorously oppose any legislative effort to allow local citizens to have a say on property tax increases resulting from higher appraised values of property and/or higher tax rates. The Governor's Task Force on Appraisal Reform is considering letting the voters rollback property tax increases if local spending exceeds 5 percent annually. Local governments have benefited from the "stealth tax", or hidden tax of higher appraisal values by being able to spend more every year while claiming they aren't raising the tax rates. This year in the city of Dallas, for example, appraised property values were up more than 8 percent; and the local government spent nearly all of these property tax increases from higher appraised valuations instead of lowering the tax rate for property owners.

According to the newspaper The Hill out of Washington DC former Texas Congressman and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is starting a conservative political organization he intends to compete with the liberal moveon.org. DeLay's new outfit is called GAIN for "Grassroots, Action and Information Network" and its goal is to help win back Congress for the GOP. It will be hosted on www.tomdelay.com . Of course many Republicans might be forgiven if they feel Mr. DeLay has done more than enough to cost the GOP Congress and should enjoy his retiremen and perhaps help prepare his defense for upcoming criminal trials.