UNDER THE DOME

$10,000-a-day-study will get free review

Texas GOP welcomes 'Nutroots.'

PRICEY STUDY, FREE REVIEW

The long-awaited outside management study that will recommend an organizational makeover for the tradition-bound Texas Department of Public Safety comes at a hefty cost: $950,000 for a report that will take 90 days. That's right: three months, $10,555.56 a day.

But Texas Public Safety Commission Chairman Allan Polunsky said the expense, to be footed by taxpayers, is worth it.

"The report is being fast-tracked ... and this will be a different agency in six to 10 months," he said. "It'll be a very modernized agency pointed very much into the 21st century."

Deloitte Consulting won the contract for the report. After a draft is completed, Polunsky said, retired Navy Adm. Bobby Inman of Austin, a former CIA director, will look it over to "make recommendations, suggest changes."

Why, for such an expensive report?

"To have two sets of eyes look at it, yes, and by a person with an unprecedented amount of experience in business and organization," Polunsky answered. "I think it's a wise move."

And Inman? He's volunteering his time, Polunsky said.

— Mike Ward

TEXAS GOP WELCOMES 'NUTROOTS'

Liberal bloggers may have taken over the Austin Convention Center this weekend for the Netroots Nation conference, but the Republican Party of Texas wasn't going to let them have all the fun.

"Keep your eyes open while you're here," says a Texas GOP e-memo welcoming the bloggers to Texas. "You'll learn that Texas is arguably the fastest-growing and most successful state in the Union. How do we do it? Sorry to say, we do it by enacting public policies that are EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what you Nutroots advocate.

"If you take some of that Texas way of doing things back to (insert name of your state here), then the entire U.S. might benefit from your stay."

Sorry, Texas GOP, but the notion that a bunch of left-leaning bloggers hanging out together are going to go home less liberal than they started is about as likely as your group sponsoring their 2009 convention.

— Corrie MacLaggan

NASCAR TOO RISKY FOR OBAMA?

Netroots Nation is already watching how far Democratic Sen. Barack Obama will move to the middle, but a sponsorship in NASCAR Nation?

Negotiations for Obama's presidential campaign to sponsor a Sprint Cup car (BAM Racing's No. 49) for one race have fallen through.

Seems Obama's camp discovered that the car's driver had given money to Republicans and there was even concern that the car, a Toyota (but not a Prius), would send the wrong message, according to Sports Illustrated (SI.com). Actually, they should have been concerned that the No. 49 car hasn't raced in weeks and that there was no guarantee it would even qualify.

In NASCAR, an advertiser wants his car to be in the front of the pack for maximum TV exposure. Oh wait! That would be another Toyota, driven by Kyle Busch.

You might leave that one for the McCain campaign.

— Laylan Copelin