Paul challenger really is "connected"

When we wrote this, about the mystery Republican challenger to US Rep. Ron Paul, R-Surfside, we were just joking.

We didn't know any better. Which is frequently the case.

But who would expect a member of Frank Sinatra's extended "family" to be living in Wharton, Texas?

Horton Foote doesn't even go there anymore it's so, so, not-happenin' (unlike bustlin' Brazosport.)

However, it turns out the mystery candidate in fact IS connected to Ol' Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra, may he rest in peace.

She's either Frank Sinatra's Jr.'s wife.

Or Frank Sinatra Jr.'s ex-wife.

Just think. It this were the 1960s, we could look forward to a Rat Pack fund-raiser concert with Don Rickles as the opening act.

Boom, chicka-boom, chicka-boom, That old black magic got its ...

Meanwhile ...Sinatra raps Paul's Iraq stance

The local paper, which was rebuffed in its initial attempts to reach Sinatra, finally got her to return their phone calls. She raps the incumbent's anti-war stance. The local paper also reports Sinatra is the former wife of Frank Sinatra Jr.

We're still waiting for the media to tell us exactly what an "international lawyer" is, which is Sinatra's job description. Does she practice in Europe? South America? What's up with that?

...and Paul asks some fundamental questions about your taxes...

The Bush administration released a proposed 2007 budget last week that increases federal spending to a staggering $2.77 trillion, a sum that is 4 times larger than the Reagan-era budgets of the early 1980s. With a public angry about useless earmarks and bridges to nowhere, and a Republican congressional delegation promising to restore some small measure of fiscal discipline, it's troubling that the administration chooses to ignore economic reality and increase spending without regard to revenues and deficits.

[texas straight talk]