Greg Abbott’s been campaigning actively for Texas governor for about three days and already he’s killin’ me.

The state attorney general went to El Paso the other day to proclaim that as governor, he won’t neglect that region of the state.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/07/18/abbott-promises-remember-el-paso-fight-security/

Well, why should he? El Paso is a substantial city of about 700,000 residents. It sits at the far western tip of the state. It’s populated by a lot of Democrats. Did I mention that Abbott is running as a Republican for governor? My guess is that won’t win a majority of the votes cast within the city, or perhaps even with the boundaries of El Paso County.

It sure is nice of him, though, to tell ’em way out yonder he won’t forget about them.

You know, though, some of in this region of the state think sometimes that Austin takes us for granted. The folks who run the state from Austin forget about the Panhandle.

I remember when a one-time freshman lawmaker — Republican David Swinford — only half-jokingly suggested that the Panhandle break itself off from the rest of the state. I asked Swinford about that once many years after he took office as a state representative in 1991 and he admitted to thinking that was a good idea. His beef? He said the state didn’t always consider the Panhandle’s needs when making policy or enacting laws.

Abbott, or whoever wins the GOP nomination for governor in 2014, is likely to do very well in this part of the state.

So my advice to the eventual gubernatorial nominee is this: Don’t take the Texas Panhandle for granted as you campaign for the governor’s office — or if you actually win the general election contest a year from this November.

So, here’s Rolling Stone magazine’s rationale for putting the photograph of a suspected terrorist on the cover its latest issue.

Dzokhar Tsarnaev is roughly the same age as the magazine’s major audience, the argument goes. Therefore, it is instructive for Rolling Stone’s readers to understand why one of their peers allegedly detonated two bombs at the Boston Marathon on April 15, killing three individuals and injuring dozens more.

Do you believe that? Neither do I.

You see, from I understand about the article, it doesn’t reveal anything that hasn’t already been reported about Tsarnaev and his late older brother, who was killed during the pursuit after the bombing.

No, it appears now more than ever that Rolling Stone’s editors were interested chiefly in selling magazines, no matter what.

I’ll stand once again behind those who have criticized the magazine editors for making an atrocious judgment call. They have glorified a suspected terrorist beyond any reason.

Being labeled a “carpetbagger” isn’t the kiss of death in U.S. politics.

However, Liz Cheney is going to have deal with being called one as she runs for the U.S. Senate seat in Wyoming, a state where she has virtually no connection — other than the fact that her father once represented the state in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Cheney’s foe in the 2014 Republican primary will be three-term incumbent Sen. Mike Enzi. Cheney says it’s time for a “new generation of leaders” to set policy. Cheney is 46; Enzi is 69.

But back to the carpetbagger issue.

Former U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had the same issue when she ran for the Senate in New York. She’d never lived there. But she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, bought a home there. She acquainted herself with the New York political infrastructure, developed a huge fundraising base and won in a breeze in 2000. Clinton ended up becoming a first-rate lawmaker, winning high praise among from her colleagues — both Democratic and Republican.

Let’s go back a bit further. Robert F. Kennedy only had a slight connection to the Empire State when he decided to run for the Senate in 1964; RFK attended a boarding school there as a child. He also had been called a “carpetbagger” by his Republican foes, but brushed it off with the trademark Kennedy wit and charm. Kennedy also won in a walk that year and served for four years before his life ended so tragically at the hand of an assassin.

Liz Cheney has the family name in Wyoming. Her father, ex-Vice President Dick Cheney, is one of the most polarizing figures in politics today. Liz Cheney was born in Wisconsin, grew up in Washington, D.C., attended law school in Illinois. She does have a passing acquaintance with her new home state.

This question remains, however: Cheney is like many contemporary conservatives who cry out for “authenticity.” Will she be able to make the claim that she’s authentic while fending off claims of being a cheap carpetbagger?

Liz Cheney — a harsh critic of President Obama — is known to play rough, just like her dad. We’ll see in due course whether she can take it as well as she can dish it out.

I’m going to line up behind Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s description of the latest Rolling Stone magazine cover.

He calls it a “disgrace.”

I’m with you, Mr. Mayor.

Rolling Stone put the face of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing that terrorized the nation, not to mention the city where the event took place.

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/07/17/poll-should-rolling-stone-have-put-tsarnaev-on-its-cover/

Yes, it’s a bizarre decision. The magazine usually features rock stars or other cultural icons. Tsarnaev, though, is a class by himself. He’s a suspected terrorist who’s alleged action killed three people and injured more than 100 others, some of them grievously.

Rolling Stone editors defend the cover, saying the magazine always has honored the principles of good journalism.

The Boston Marathon bombing cut deeply into the nation’s emotional psyche. Surely the magazine editors knew what the reaction would be when they plastered Tsarnaev’s face on the cover of the magazine, but they chose to do it anyway. My sense is that Rolling Stone is motivated more by provocation than solid journalism.

Rolling Stone editors wanted to provoke a visceral reaction and they have succeeded.

Several retailers, including some that do business in Amarillo, have said they won’t sell the magazine with Tsarnaev’s picture on the cover. I concur with that decision.

I’m wondering how the magazine could have told the story without the visible image. Here’s a thought: a few words of text across the top of the cover page that say something like: “Boston Marathan bombing suspect – from big man on campus to alleged terrorist. Turn to Page 10.”

Wouldn’t that have done the job?

I remember when Ronald Reagan invoked what he called the “11th Commandment,” which decreed that Republicans never should speak ill of other Republicans.

Some of today’s Republicans — self-professed devotees of the Gipper — are committing a form of political sacrilege. They’re targeting fellow Republicans with abandon.

The latest of them is one Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who wants to run for the U.S. Senate seat in Wyoming against, that’s right, Sen. Mike Enzi, a Republican incumbent with a 92 percent rating from the American Conservative Union.

Seems that Enzi’s major “sin” has been his willingness to work with Democrats in the Senate. Cheney’s announcement of her candidacy declares she will never compromise. She’s going to stand by her principles, by golly, no matter what.

Enzi said he “thought we were friends” when describing his relationship with Cheney. Apparently not.

In another interesting twist to this budding campaign, Chris Mathews of MSNBC noted today that Liz Cheney has never actually lived in Wyoming. She went to high school in Washington, where she lived with her parents and younger sister. Cheney recently moved to resort community of Jackson Hole, in western Wyoming. But as Howard Fineman, also of MSNBC, noted, that is like “someone moving to the Hamptons and then claiming to know all about New York state.”

As for the 11th Commandment, Cheney is just the latest GOP hopeful to throw President Reagan’s mandate into the dumper. Utah GOP Sen. Bob Bennett got “primaried” out of office by another Republican. So did Republican Sen. Dick Lugar of Indiana. Those men had this habit also of working with Democrats to craft legislation, to get things done for the good of the country.

As the Republican Party continues fighting among itself, though, it is embarking on a suicide mission.

Somewhere, the Gipper is wishing he could come back and talk sense into his ideological descendants.

New Mexico state police chief Robert Schiller has quit his job.

But as the blog attached here notes, there remains some questions to answer:

http://joemonahansnewmexico.blogspot.com/2013/07/gatorgates-first-victim-state-police.html

The husband of New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez is caught in a dustup over an alligator-hunting trip he took in 2011. He went to Louisiana to hunt some gators, but had state police protection go along with him. Some folks have asked questions about it, wondering why the governor’s office has detailed the expense incurred by Chuck Franco — Martinez’s husband — on the trip.

Schilling is caught in the middle of all this.

Martinez needs to do the right thing and release the details of the expenses. She contends it was paid by private interests, that the public expense amounted to about $123.

That’s not nearly good enough, governor.

Meanwhile, the state has lost its top cop.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., wants to “punish” Russia by not allowing our Olympic athletes to venture to Sochi for next year’s Winter Olympics.

Yeah, senator, that’ll teach ’em to quit meddling in the affairs of the United States vs. Edward Snowden.

Give me a break.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/16/sen-graham-us-should-consider-boycotting-olympic-games/

Russia is considering granting Snowden, the NSA leaker who’s on the lam from U.S. law enforcement, temporary asylum while Snowden shops around for a country that will take him permanently. So, to make some kind of point — God only knows what it is — Graham says the United States should deny its Winter Olympic athletes the chance to compete on behalf of their country.

Maybe Graham doesn’t remember, but we tried that once already. In 1980, the then-Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. President Carter decided he would stick it in the Big Bear’s eye by boycotting the Moscow Summer Olympics. Several nations joined us to protest the Soviet invasion. The Games went on without us and they were, from what I understand, largely successful.

Four years later, with the Summer Olympics set for Los Angeles, the Soviets decided to return the favor. They boycotted the LA Games, along with a smattering of their allies around the world. Guess what? The LA Olympics also took place and they, too, were hugely successful.

Not a single thing was accomplished by either boycott.

Nothing will be accomplished with any future boycott if Lindsey Graham has his way. Let’s get real and stop threatening to use our athletes as pawns in a geopolitical chess game.

I’ll say it once again: Tom Pauken could add considerable spice to the Texas Republican governor’s primary campaign in 2014.

Now all Attorney General Greg Abbott has to do is take Pauken — the former Texas Republican Party chairman — up on his debate challenge.

http://blog.beaumontenterprise.com/bayou/2013/07/16/paulken-challenges-perry-lite-greg-abbott-to-serious-debate/

I like the idea of these two men going head to head across the state. They both want to be the state’s next governor and it’s a pretty good bet that one of them will get the job after the November 2014 election.

Abbott has been anointed the frontrunner. I’ve also said this before, too, but Pauken deserves to be heard. He’s claimed there should be no “divine right of succession” to Rick Perry, who’s leaving office in January 2015 after serving since the beginning of time — or so it seems.

Abbott and Pauken are two smart men. They’re trained in the law and they know how to argue their points … whatever they are.

I’m one Texas voter who’s willing to learn more about what these men believe, what they stand for and how they intend to lead this state.