The Scoop on the Texas House Speaker's Race

With more and legislators throwing their hat into the ring to be the next speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, the scoop is that even the most highly connected insiders in Austin admit privately that they have no idea what is going to happen when the legislature convenes in mid January.

This is disconcerting to many of those insiders. Without knowing who the speaker will be, they also do not know who will hold committee leadership positions. Lobbyists are hamstrung, because they don't know who to lobby.

If deals are being made, no one seems to know about it. If the voting is public, that will improve the chances of current speaker Tom Craddick prevailing. If the voting is secret, one jokester suggests that every legislator might get one vote.