COMPLICATIONS of a heart attack have kept me from my appointed rounds at the Mirror office and elsewhere since late May, but I am mending gradually in the rehabilitation wing of Upshur Manor, and able to use my Apple iBook to catch up on news I had saved for future reading.

Chris Cillizza, writing on The Fix website, took a close look at politics for Texas Democrats during the last decade.

He notes that attempts to find the right candidate have not worked, but a search is under way once more.

Looking toward the 2012 election year, he writes, Senate Democrats are considering former Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez as a recruit to seek the open U.S. Senate seat.

Nathan Daschle, the former executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, is quoted as saying the party is still “a couple of cycles away from a level playing field,” but an extraordinary candidate could overcome those odds.

Recent Texas political history suggests it will be a very tough sell, Cillizza wrote.

HE NOTED that the last time the party won a statewide race for president, Senate or governor was in 1990 when Ann Richards was elected governor.

Since then, the party has struggled, but the best showing for a Democratic presidential candidate in Texas since 1990 was 43.8 percent for Bill Clinton in 1996.

(Obama won 43.7 percent in 2008, which was 11 points short of Sen. John McCain. No Democrat for Senate has won more than 43. 9 percent of the vote in the last 20 years.)

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JOHNNY MATHIS, the Gilmer-born singing star, is keeping a long career going by stretching out his concerts, making each one a special attraction for his many fans.

He will sing Aug. 20 and 21 at Dallas’ Meyerson Symphony Hall.

This is how a website promotes the event:

“Enjoy an evening of enchanting elegance when the incomparable Johnny Mathis sings classic hits ‘Misty,’ ‘Chances Are,’ ‘It’s Not For Me To Say,’ and many others. Mathis’s smooth, stylish vocals will create an unforgettable evening of beautiful music in the sumptuous surroundings of the Meyerson Symphony Center.”

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AS A LONGTIME follower of soap operas, first on radio in the 1930s and up until the present on TV, I am saddened to realize that they may be on the way out.

When All My Children and One Life to Live fade to black later this year, they’ll be replaced with two lifestyle programs, The Chew and The Revolution.

The Chew comes from veteran Food Network producer Gordon Elliot and will focus on every aspect of food.

It will replace All My Children starting in September.

ABC will offer The Revolution, a show about health and lifestyle changes’ from the producers of The Biggest Loser and Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition.

Something clearly is going on, when NBC’s only soap, Days of Our Lives, repeats the same episode over and over in a 2-week period, as has happened this month.