For Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, the re-election campaign has only begun.

Armed with a recent court ruling allowing a bombardment of campaign advertising, the Midland Republican’s friends are about to start calling and mailing us, pressuring local lawmakers to keep Craddick as speaker when the House convenes Jan. 13.

If you’re confused by the Texas speaker’s race, you’re not alone. In Washington, the majority party routinely elects the speaker.

In Austin, Republicans are clinging to a two-vote edge, 76-74, and Craddick has led the party for 20 years.

But he has one problem.

More like eight problems. At least eight of the 76 Republicans either think Craddick stinks or are running against him.

On the other side of the aisle, eight Democrats think Craddick’s a great guy.

So if everybody votes as expected, the cross-party math shows Craddick clinging to an edge as thin as one vote.

The list of five Democrats and three Republicans running against Craddick includes conservatives such as Republican Jim Keffer, who represents Granbury, and Burt Solomons of Carrollton. But either would need a centrist majority of both Democrats and Republicans to win.

That’s why Craddick’s campaign to rally conservatives began this week with a letter from Burnet County Republican Linda Rogers, president of Texas Republican county chairmen.

"Liberals" are trying to defeat Craddick, her letter screams, with the word liberals in boldface. "We can’t let the Liberals win Texas!!!"

Never mind that neither Keffer nor Solomons is remotely liberal. Because they would need centrists’ votes, that means "liberals" are somehow trying to win.

(Yes, even though Craddick also needs Democrats.)

Former Texas House candidate Bill Burch of Arlington and conservative activist Jim Cardle of Austin weighed in with a commentary on the Austin-based Texas Insider blog. They called for Republicans to quit "stepping in cow patties" and unite behind "pro-family" Craddick.

Burch returned a Thanksgiving phone call to spell out why he wants Craddick re-elected.

No surprise here. It’s about power and campaign money.

"The speaker knows where to raise the money to help Republicans win elections," Burch said. "If you put somebody else in there who opposes the speaker, he’s not going to help them raise money. Then next election, Republicans won’t have the money to win."

Craddick hasn’t won every election lately, but he broke even in Tarrant County.

His political action committee helped bankroll Fort Worth Republican Mark Shelton’s Texas House victory, but it lost $200,000 along with Arlington Republican Bill Zedler’s defeat.

Burch said other conservative Republicans challenging Craddick "don’t have a prayer."

They also don’t have an ad campaign.