Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Texas House of Representatives

AUSTIN – With House Speaker Tom Craddick's political future hanging on just a handful of votes, the freshman Class of '09 is an attractive target for support.

And as the behind-the-scenes maneuvering for the House's top job picks up steam, the state's newest 21 representatives – who get sworn in Jan. 13, the same day they elect a speaker – are bracing for an onslaught of contacts by speaker candidates and their surrogates.

"Everyone's kind of waiting to see how things play out over the next several weeks," said Democratic Rep.-elect Chris Turner of Arlington.

With no fewer than 10 legislators running for speaker and a Republican majority of only 76 to 74, some freshmen are keeping quiet about whom they might support. And they're the ones getting the most pressure.

A campaign worker for New Braunfels Republican Rep.-elect Doug Miller, when asked about the speaker's race, sighed, saying "Ohhh, that speaker's race!" Mr. Miller beat incumbent Nathan Macias in the primary, overcoming opposition from Craddick supporters.

Mr. Miller's Republican consultant Chris Turner, no relation to the Democratic representative, said Mr. Miller is getting more calls because he has not yet declared whether he'll be supporting Mr. Craddick in his re-election bid or another Republican.

Another North Texas client, Rep.-elect Angie Chen Button of Richardson, signed a pledge card for Mr. Craddick early and, he said, is not feeling as much heat.

Both are trying – despite what Mr. Turner described as daily phone calls "every five seconds from a different area code, and they're all running for speaker" – to focus on building up their staffs in time for the new legislative session.

"Angie and Doug would say the same thing – and that is, if you keep your cellphone on and you allow the calls relating to who's going to be the next speaker of the House to take up your life, it will," he said. "I talked to [Mr. Miller] about a week ago, and he said, 'I'm not taking any more calls on this. I have a million things to do.' "

Mr. Craddick has been speaker since 2003 but his reign is in jeopardy because of increasing objections to what many in his party call his heavy-handed leadership. But Craddick aides say he will win another term, even though the GOP lost seats in the election this month.

As a long-standing rule of House politics, freshmen are the lifeblood of any incumbent speaker in either party because he can win their loyalties early on through, among other means, campaign help.

"The freshman reps who signed pledge cards are probably glad they did it, so they're out of it," said the consultant Mr. Turner. "It'll become more intense. There's no question. But more of the work is going to be done on the incumbents than it will be on these guys."

Fort Worth Republican freshman Mark Shelton supports Mr. Craddick and figures that's why he hasn't heard a peep from anyone.

"I'm currently in a pressure-free environment," he said.

Longview GOP Rep. Tommy Merritt, a speaker candidate, said he's been in touch with freshmen but is "starting on the senior members" on the fence. A more seasoned lawmaker, he said, might be willing to vote against a speaker than a freshman vulnerable to retaliation.

The vote to pick a speaker is made in public on the House floor.

"What allows the freshmen to be free-wheeled, spirited and frisky in coming to fight for their district is that first of all, they shouldn't give a pledge card to an incumbent speaker," Mr. Merritt said. "And they ought to be able to vote in a sealed ballot, where the fear of reprisal and punishment from any side is not there."