"Please sign the petition so that we can show General Petraeus and all of our heroes in uniform that we support them, and their courageous fight for the future of Iraq and the safety of our great nation." - U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway
http://www.mikeconaway.com/victory

The candidates don't talk about this, especially not Mitt, but I will. What is the obligation of young Republican believers in the War on Terror such as ourselves to serve our country? Although the Army is now accepting people up to 40 yrs. old, most of the people we send to Afghanistan and Iraq (and maybe Iran soon enough) are young people just like you and me. If, as President Bush has said, we need to maintain a presence over there for "decades," we're going to need some new people eventually going over.

The Big Red Tent Team (i.e. Ryan and I) will be at the Texas Republican Straw Poll, live blogging the event Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. If you're going to be there, leave a comment in this post and let us know.

Will Ron Paul run away with it and win his home state's Straw Poll? Ryan thinks so, but we'll have to wait until Saturday to find out.

Check back with Big Red Tent this weekend for Texas Republican Straw Poll coverage!

The Ron Paul grassroots network is making extensive use of the Internet to drive straw poll delegates to Fort Worth this weekend. It could be the decisive factor in his favor.

R.G. Ratcliffe posts a piece from The Hill, an inside the beltway newspaper for Capitol Hill, that questions whether Watts is ready for prime time.

http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/archives/2007/07/rothen...