Solved! Go to Solution.
Currently the arcpy.mapping module contains no where near the functionality you can achieve with ArcObjects. There is no way I know of to create a new text element using arcpy.mapping. You can take an existing element and change the size, position, text, etc.
At 10.1, text and graphic elements can be cloned. So you can author a single element with the font, color, etc and clone when needed elsewhere. Arcpy does not allow you to change text color, font and many other properties directly although you can do it by setting the text string to include tags.
Jeff
Clone() is a method on the text element or graphic element classes.
Check out the second example on the graphic element class. It builds a dynamic table by cloning graphic lines and text.
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/#/GraphicElement/00s300000040000000/
Jeff
All "CURRENT" means is that your code is referencing the document that is currently loaded into the ArcMap application. This means the code is being run from either the Python window or from a script tool from within ArcMap.
The document that is open should have all your extra stuff, often times tucked away off the page. Your code can call it when/if needed.
Jeff