The swearing in ceremony of Texas governor Rick Perry and lieutenant governor David Dewhurst was moved inside the House chamber because of icy weather down in Austin today. The streaming webcast is available if you are interested.

Barack Obama finally announced that he is going to explore the possibility of running for president. I don't believe he's another John F. Kennedy, the last senator who was successful in the race for the highest elected office in the land. If I were him, I'll build up some executive experiences by running for governor first. He joined the crowded field of Democrat wannabees: former South Carolina senator and former vice presidential candidate John Edwards, former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, Connecticut senator Christopher Dodd, and many more who have yet to announce, including the junior senator from New York and former first lady Hillary Clinton. Check here for the long list.

Kansas Republican Senator Sam Brownback filed papers with the Federal Election Commission on December 4th, 2006 and will formally announce the formation of his presidential exploratory committee at noon this Saturday, January 20th, 2007 at the Kansas Expocentre Heritage Hall, 1 Expocentre Dr., Topeka, KS 66612. Doors will open at 10:30 am. He's one of those Republicans I highly respect, because he does what he believes is right, even when no one is looking. He's one of the very few elected US officials who traveled to Vietnam to look into religious freedom and human right issues. I wish he had been governor instead of a senator.

Karl Ninh with senator Sam Brownback and his wife Mary at the 2004 Republican National Convention.