Hank Stephenson, TW's man at the Capitol, tells us that the House Ethics Committee had two brief meetings today to consider Rep. Daniel Patterson's response to the recent ethics report and will once again convene tomorrow to decide how to proceed.

Patterson himself held a curious press conference to defend himself. Details to come via Stephenson.

Stephenson also tells us that House Minority Leader Chad Campbell, who has been calling on the House to expel Patterson via a two-thirds vote, now says he's happy to have a full-blown ethics hearing.

Says Campbell: "He wants a hearing, let's give him a hearing, but let's do it tomorrow, let's just get it done with. Let's see if he can actually answer a question that's directed at him, because he hasn't proven that to anybody yet. His response today was woefully inadequate. It was just a bunch of rambling nonsense. ... If he claims he can respond to these allegations, lets give him a chance to respond. I would love to hear it."