Hilarious. Texas Monthly's Evan Smith reports that House Speaker Tom Craddick will get a Democratic challenger next year. The Midland newspaper erroneously reports that Smith had "encouraged" said challenger, former Midland city council member Bill Dingus, to make that run. This causes the Republican Party of Texas to go ballistic. The paper has now issued a retraction, saying their reporter made an honest mistake in how he interpreted what was said to him (see here for more).

So. What do you think are the odds that Tina Benkiser and her cohorts will accept this explanation and drop the matter? What do you think are the odds that one or more conservative bloggers will reference the initial story as proof that "the media" is out to get Republicans in general and Tom Craddick in particular, without acknowledging the retraction? It's certainly possible that this is a one-day story, but let's keep an eye on it anyway. The unintentional comedy factor is high.