The Gossips think that the gloves are off in the race for State Senator District 7. First a letter to the Harris County Tax Assessor, Paul Bettencourt who happens to also be Dan Patrick's treasurer claiming that Patrick under his former name of Dan Goeb and his current name as Dan Patrick has a "substantial history of tax forfeitures, delinquencies, bankruptcies and bad faith business practices which have left a trail of investors who lost their money , and indeed sometimes their life's savings." This letter from Don Elder has been mailed to a few reporters and to the other candidate's headquarters. It takes Bettencourt to task and says "Your support of his endeavors, in my view, diminishes your voice on the greater issue of seeking substantial and meaningful property tax relief for taxpayer of Texas". No word from Bettencourt.

Then the Gossips have learned that the Joe Nixon campaign says that Bettencourt should disclose just how much radio time Dan and his friends have donated to the Patrick campaign. The Nixon campaign says"Because KSEV charged the Nixon campaign an average of $200 a minute for radio air time in 2005 – and because federal and state election laws require that all advertisers are treated equally by a given station – the Nixon campaign therefore believes Mr. Patrick and his radio station have given his campaign approximately $3.6 million in in-kind, or free, political advertising." So it will be interesting to see just how much "time" the Patrick campaign does decide to list.

The Gossips believe that the other three campaigns have done their own polling and have decided that the Patrick campaign really does have a lead in the polls. So, it is time to go on the attack against Dan Patrick. No word from Peggy Hamric on all of this. Her first letter seemed to be aimed at Joe Nixon. The Mark Ellis campaign is also having a quiet time watching the other folks go after one another.