PinkDome and BOR report that rumors of a possible overthrow of State House Speaker Tom Craddick are intensifying. I don't doubt that, though as Paul Burka says, there's a ways to go between talk and action. There's another possibility to keep in mind here, and it's a lot less sunny to contemplate. The Jim Leininger/Bob Perry axis and its bottomless funding capabilities may make a concerted effort to pick off the Republicans who strayed from the preferred party line on school finance and other assorted moderate heretics in the primaries. If they succeeded in this, they could get a more orthodox Republican majority, one that is to Craddick as the GOP Congressional caucus is to Tom DeLay. That was the goal in 2002, and it worked pretty well with the 78th Lege. Things may have floundered a bit this time around, but that doesn't mean they can't aim to fix that. See what happens in the primaries and we'll have a better idea of what Craddick's fortunes may be in 2007.