Nice sleepy holiday, huh? Two days before Christmas, Texas Monthly's Paul Burka broke the news [1] that Republican Brian McCall of Plano had officially launched a challenge to House Speaker Tom Craddick of Midland. That's a full stocking for bloggers . . .

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It's a Real Challenge

After months and months of carping and whining without a candidate, Craddick's foes in the Texas House have three Republicans to choose from, and lots of places online to write and read about it. Burka's also posted up a copy of the letter [2] from most (but not all) of the House chairmen reaffirming their support for the guy who gave them their high posts. And he speculates that the incumbent is losing [3] and who might try to revive his supporters if he falls.

A holiday posting at DallasBlog has been hit 2,100 times, according to Scott Bennett, who wrote a long piece on the race [4] that lays out and analyzes a lot of what's a stake. It's a good read. And if you poke around on that blog, they've kept it up since he first scribbled on the subject. Start here [5], here [6], here [7], or here [8].

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Is This Partisan, or Just Political?

Democrats who are sticking with Craddick are being stalked by Democrats outside the House; just look at this post from the Burnt Orange Report [9], a liberal Austin blog, reminding the current Craddick Democrats about what happened to former Rep. Ron Wilson, D-Houston.  And this one, too [10]. There's more on the feeding frenzy [11] at Half Empty, where Hal writes that it took more than a vote on a speaker to knock off Wilson or Rep. Al Edwards, D-Houston.

The first Texas legislator to start a blog — Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg — has written all around the contest [12] without saying whether he's with Craddick or one of the challengers. He's apparently not gonna spill the beans, either: "I realize that I have a front row seat to the internal machinations of this historic race, and boy could I tell you a tale or two, but my respect for the membership and our confidences suggests that I exercise discretion," he wrote. At Musings, Peña's being gently nagged [13] to show whose flag he's flying.

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Seers and Strategists

A new blog — apparently written by someone who's been in the lobby and the capitol press corps, though anonymously — is skeptical about of this hoo-haw. From Billy Clyde's Political Hot Tub Party [14], we get gems like this one: Anyway, my stubborn ass remains in the 'highly skeptical' camp in regards to whether there is or will be a Speaker's Race. McCall has exposed his fanny. But so far, none of his 'supporters' have."

Off the Kuff writes [15] that Craddick muffed it by releasing lists of his supporters but did the smart thing with the letter from chairmen saying why they're for the Midland Republican.

Vince at Capitol Annex has a different take [16] on all of this; he says it's about vouchers and secret votes and dismisses the talk that Democrats who stick with Craddick are auto-turncoats and such. He's also skeptical the challengers will prevail. At Musings, the spin is that Pitts and McCall will combine [17] at the last minute to try to finish Craddick. You get that same take [18] from Half Empty, with both of those blogs bouncing off a story in the Houston Chronicle speculating about the same thing. The Chron, meanwhile, is backing off a bit [19].

Meanwhile, Nate Nance over at Common Sense lives up to the name of his blog with the post a lot more people could (maybe should) have run. He says he doesn't know what's going on [20] in the speaker's race.