If Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is eventually forced to resign one possible replacement Bush would look to is Texas Senator John Cornyn. Before winning election to the Senate in 2002, he served on the Texas Supreme Court and was elected Attorney General in 1998.
Firstly, do you think Cornyn could be a viable candidate for AG and could his nomination get past a partisan-Democratic Senate and also, who would Governor Rick Perry nominate to replace him? I assume a special election would take place as it did in 1993 when Lloyd Bentsen became Secretary of the Treasury.
A special election would be held at the next uniform election date (either in May or November), and could be ordered at an earlier date by the Governor. The special election would be an all-comers race with no primaries, but would have a run-off if no candidate received a majority.
Perry would probably nominate Lt. Governor Dewhurst so that he wouldn't run against him in 2010. The Senate would then elect a new Lt. Governor.