I like Philip Martin's postgame wrapup on the HD48 special election. Much of what he mentions is, I think, replicable in other races. And yes, Ben Bentzin's ties to the DeLay machine certainly did him no favors. Dems will need to take advantage of that where they can.

Jason Embry and Gardner Selby offer their views as well. One should never draw too broad a conclusion from a special election like this - if nothing else, the only-game-in-town factor skews the dynamics of such a campaign - but there are definitely things to learn from them.

Just a thought: Compare the education, income and housing, and population overviews of HD48 to the same three things in HD134. They're pretty similar. Probably doesn't mean anything, but it's interesting to note.