Texas voters head to the polls today and the race most watched is the Republican gubernatorial primary between Gov. Rick Perry (R), Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) and Debra Medina (R).
The Dallas Morning News notes the "unprecedented battle between the two-term governor and three-term senator has stretched more than a year and consumed tens of millions of dollars. But for all the TV ads and attacks on each other, the dynamic appears little changed in months. Perry, riding a wave of anti-Washington sentiment, appears to have a comfortable lead, while Hutchison is trying to keep her bid alive for a few more weeks with a runoff."
At one point Medina "appeared to be battling Hutchison for second place but may have slipped in recent days because of a lack of money for television ads and a failure to quickly disavow a possible government conspiracy in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks."
Austin American Statesman: "If early voting in the state's big counties was any indication, turnout for today's election will be high. About 306,000 people voted early in the Republican primary this year in the state's 15 largest counties, more than doubling early vote turnout in those counties compared with the 2006 Republican primary for governor."