Star-Telegram Capitol Boys Split Up
This feels like the Texas Capitol Press Corps equivalent of The Beatles breaking up. The four-man Fort Worth Star Telegram Austin bureau is soon becoming a one-man shop.
(The original band members: Jack, Jay, Jake and John joining up for some brew at Jake's farewell gathering.)
It was almost too perfect. Four cool dudes with alliterative names? One had to know it wasn't going to last. Star-Telegram's owner, McClatchy, made across-the-company cutbacks which led both Jack Plunkett (a photographer) and Jake Dyer (a kickass watchdog reporter) to take buyouts.
Jay Root, the bureau chief, will soon be joining the Associated Press' Austin bureau. My BFF John will stick around, as far as I know. Best of luck, boys! As the real Beatles told us:
For though they may be parted there is
Still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be.
Congressman McCaul in Pakistan
We got a photo from the trip! And a reeeeally long press release from former Capitol Press Tribe member, Mike Rosen*. So I'll just post the photo:
Texas Congressmen Michael McCaul, Gene Green and Henry Cuellar just got back from their official trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan. McCaul's office says he talked about the need for more military resources in the region. As they left Afghanistan, suicide bombers blasted the Indian Embassy in Kabul.
McCaul met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf (seen above), and toured a hostile region along the Pakistan border in a Blackhawk helicopter. He visited U.S. troops at bases in Khost, Gardez and Ghazni.
*Just playin', Rosen.
Young, With Heart
State Rep Mark Strama, D-Austin, is back with his biennial Campaign Academy, and this year it's bigger than ever --forty participants. See earlier post.
We stopped by to see what was going on, and to make sure the youngsters weren't secretly making Kathie Lee Gifford brand clothing. (OK, that joke might pre-date the Academy kids.)
Seriously though, the participants not only seemed to be having a lot of fun, they were impressive in the way they came up with ideas and bounced them off of each other and provided social networking expertise to Strama, who admits he doesn't know much about the Facebook world. (I hate the new profile layouts, btw.)
Campaign academy students discuss ways to outreach on Facebook and Myspace.
Strama asks the group for an update on "Stramarama", a fundraiser they have planned for late July.
They are hearing from a diverse bunch of lunch speakers everyday. Today it was former judicial candidate John Lipscombe.
In the afternoon, the group dispersed to go blockwalking. We went with one pair to drop off literature about an East Austin block party. They were pretty fast walkers, especially when you consider we have to run in front of people to get a good shot of them walking and talking.
I asked a lot of the participants why they were spending their summer this way, and the general answer was that they - like most who wind up in politics - love this stuff. The television story is on in about an hour... KVUE at 6pm (now in HD!!!!)
Video: Jon Takes on "Big John"
The national lampooning of US Senator John Cornyn's GOP state convention video continues. Cornyn's camp says it's happy to get all the free press, and it seems the likes of Jon Stewart are happy to give it to him.
Stewart's comment on Cornyn's tassel-happy burnt orange jacket:
"How did you find that jacket in adult size? Cause I'm pretty sure everyone's Nephew Ralphie wants one."
Luke Russert Remembers
Luke Russert, Tim's only son, appeared on the Today Show this morning to talk about his father. Luke just graduated from Boston College a few weeks ago.
Tim Russert, 1950-2008
The announcement, from Russert's close friend and colleague Tom Brokaw:
