While Rick Perry is bashing rival Kay Bailey Hutchison for palling around with special interests in Washington, he's doing just fine collecting big bucks from special interests back here at home. it'll be a couple of months before Perry and Hutchison file their next campaign reports covering the second half [...]
Authorities in Washington state have been on a manhunt for Maurice Clemmons, an ex-con suspected of shooting four police officers at a coffee shop the other day. There's a $125,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
Why is [...]
Rep. Kay Granger joined a growing list of legislators Monday who are lining up against President Barack Obama's Afghanistan war strategy.
But the Fort Worth Republican has a timelier perspective on the issue than most.
Granger just returned from a trip to the war-torn country, where she met with Gen. Stanley [...]
It's a rule of politics that when a campaign is outdistancing an opponent and on a roll, it tends to overreach. Kay Bailey Hutchison's campaign did it when she faced Democrat Richard Fisher in the 1994 Senate race. Hutchison was comfortably ahead, but her political operatives piled on with some [...]
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison continues her gun rights push - probably her strongest claim to the affections of conservative voters.
Today, she and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., filed a friend of the court brief at the Supreme Court in McDonald v. City of Chicago - the next big gun rights case [...]
Houston businessman Farouk Shami has launched the first ad of his campaign for governor. The 60-second introductory spot began airing statewide on Friday. It ran in Dallas during expensive pro-football time slots Sunday. Two things about it stand out:
Shami doesn't let anyone know he's seeking the Democratic nomination.
And he' [...]
The Texas Medical Association said over the weekend that it opposes the Senate health bill that cleared a key procedural vote on Saturday evening. Despite numerous reservations about other versions of the legislation, this is the first time (during this Congress) that TMA has stated outright opposition to health [...]
Tom Schieffer of Fort Worth is quitting his bid for governor of Texas and will endorse Houston Mayor Bill White, who's expected to get in the race on the Democratic side very soon. Some Texas Democrats have never warmed to Schieffer because of his long-time ties to George W. Bush.' [...]
Reps. Ron Paul, R-Lake Jackson, and Alan Grayson, D-Fla., may not agree on a whole lot politically. But they seem to share a formidable distaste for the Federal Reserve.
The two teamed up to write a proposal that would increase oversight of the Fed and possibly force an audit of [...]
Gov. Rick Perry's campaign, not too surprisingly, pounced on Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's comment on Meet the Press that if Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner deserves to be fired, members of Congress do, too.
"Senator Hutchison finally admitted that she is part of the problem with the out-of-control spending in Washington," said [...]
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, on NBC's Meet the Press, defended Rep. Kevin Brady for demanding the resignation of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner at a hearing last week - though she didn't exactly endorse his sentiment.
The Brady/Geithner confrontation has been replayed repeatedly on cable news shows.
"I think what Kevin Brady'" [...]
The Dallas-based law firm of Haynes and Boone saw two of its partners tapped by Speaker Joe Straus recently to serve on the Sunset Advisory Commission: Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas; and Lamont Jefferson of San Antonio (right), the brother of Texas Supreme Court [...]
Dallas public television station KERA reports that Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison have agreed to debate on Jan. 14 -- statewide, televised, one hour, questions from journalists.
Do not touch that dial. Those flames and sparks flying from your set are entirely to be expected.
Sen. Florence Shapiro of Plano said Friday she will file for re-election for her senate seat next month, while she keeps her long-range sights set on the U.S. Senate seat now held by incumbent Kay Bailey Hutchison. The Republican state senator said she will file for [...]
The Rick Perry campaign is airing its first radio ad of the campaign - a lively takeoff on the popular game show Jeopardy with questions about runaway federal spending and the answer always the same: Kay Bailey Hutchison. It's the first real attack of the campaign, but uses humor to' [...]
Sen. John Cornyn, still a bit hoarse, is vocalizing again. The briefly speechless junior senator recalled something Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, quipped after vocal cord surgery three years ago to address recurring problems. Doctors ordered him to remain mute during his recovery.
"He said his approval ratings shot through the" [...]
A congressional hearing turned ugly Thursday, thanks in large part to Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, who called for the resignation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
"Conservatives agree that as point person, you failed," Brady said. "Liberals are growing in that consensus as well. For the sake of our jobs," [...]
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has been booked as a guest Sunday on Meet the Press, along with two Democratic senators, Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois and California Sen. Diane Feinstein, and with Connecticut independent Joe Lieberman, who chaired the first open hearing regarding the Fort Hood shootings, on Thursday.
[...]You got your first look at the gubernatorial air war here on TrailBlazers. We were the first yesterday afternoon to post Kay Bailey Hutchison's new ad and to report that Rick Perry was following suit with a spot of his own. Perry put his new spot on his campaign [...]
Kay Bailey Hutchison voted with her fellow Republicans yesterday against the confirmation of a federal judge that conservatives have labeled a liberal activist. But Gov. Rick Perry told me that's not good enough because she missed an earlier vote on the nomination. Clearly, Perry's going to keep up the "she's'" [...]
Dallas Cowboy DeMarcus Ware is one of three NFL stars appearing with President Barack Obama in a public service announcement that will air during Thanksgiving games. Ware was on the South Lawn of the White House last month tossing a ball around with Obama and a bunch of DC-area kids. [...]
The Kay Bailey Hutchison campaign has launched a statewide television campaign against Rick Perry with a TV commercial set to begin airing tomorrow across Texas. The ad will play in Dallas-Fort Worth and the state's other major markets. It features Hutchison sitting in a living-room setting, explaining that she decided' [...]
The chairman of the Republican Governors Association says a fractious primary fight for governor in Texas will make it more difficult for the GOP to win next November. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said "there's a strong likelihood" that red-state Texas will hold on to the governorship in next year's general [...]
In less than an hour, Houston hair-care magnate Farouk Shami will formally announce he's running as a Democrat for governor. Already, though, the Shami campaign has put out a release that tackles what political insiders say could be the biggest [...]
Sen. John Cornyn croaked through his Q&A with Attorney General Eric Holder at a Senate hearing yesterday. Today, that would be an improvement.
"The senator has no voice," his office declared in postponing his weekly conference call with reporters.
Tough spot for a senator. Talking is pretty much their livelihood. Good [...]
THE CLAIM: Endorsing Kay Bailey Hutchison for governor in Houston on Wednesday, former Vice President Dick Cheney said: "When Texas was faced with a budget shortfall and some legislators were proposing an income tax, Kay stood with the taxpayers and led the fight to kill the" [...]
It's being described as a debate by some folks, but can you call a program where the candidates get the questions in advance a real debate? Probably not, but that's the type of forum we're watching here at the fantastic student center at TCU.
Democratic hopefuls for governor Tom Schieffer, Hank' [...]
A new study ranks Texas' tax structure the fifth most "regressive" among the states. That means state and local tax collectors take a much greater share of income from low- and middle-income families than from the wealthy.
The report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy puts only Washington' [...]
Kay Bailey Hutchison is going up first with commercial of the governor's race. Radio spots are to start tomorrow statewide. Can television be far behind? The campaign calls it a "significant buy." And you'll hear it on your local radio station through November.
The decision to go up on radio comes [...]
Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee and former Alasa governor, tells Fox News' Sean Hannity that she views the Fort Hood attack as an act of terrorism.
"I certainly do," she told the conservative talker in an interview' [...]
Kay Bailey Hutchison stayed in Washington yesterday to vote on a military appropriations bill before heading to Texas for a campaign fundraiser. Rick Perry says she should have stayed little longer - long enough to vote against an Obama appointee as a federal appeals judge. The Senate voted 70 to [...]
Over at the transportation blog, we have an updated analysis of Perry and the gas tax question. You can read it here.
[...]Dick Cheney told a crowd of Kay Bailey Hutchison supporters tonight that Texans know "the difference between a real talker and the real deal." And he said Hutchison "is the real deal." The former vice president traveled to Houston for a rally and fundraiser for Hutchison. About 200 sign-waving supporters [...]
Sarah Palin is coming, Sarah Palin is coming.
Gov. Rick Perry was asked during a conference call this afternoon when we'll see the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate stumping for his re-election bid' [...]
Democrat Carol Kent won an upset victory last year against Tony Goolsby in the District 102 race.
Now she'll have to fend off one of at least two candidates running in the March Republican Primary.
Dallas lawyer Stefani Carter has been raising money and is expected to announce her candidacy in the' [...]
Texas Sen. John Cornyn has just released a letter to President Barack Obama, urging him to come right out and acknowledge that Maj. Nidal Hasan was likely "compelled by a fanatical religious ideology.
"If Islamist terrorism was the driving force behind the senseless violence at Fort Hood, as it seems to [...]
It was touch-and-go, but word now is that Kay Bailey Hutchison will attend tonight's rally and fundraiser in Houston with Dick Cheney. There was a possiblity that the Senate would take a preliminary vote today on health care -- something Hutchison didn't want to miss. We wrote today that' [...]
Gov. Rick Perry on Monday defended efforts he once made to have girls vaccinated against the HPV virus that can lead to cervical cancer.
"I've always though HPV was an issue of life," Perry said in Dallas.
The governor was responding to a reporter's question about the U.S. Centers for Disease Control [...]
At a stop in Dallas Monday, Rick Perry said that elected officials would have to find a way to "expand our ability to raise some dollars" for roads and other transportation infrastructure.
"One of the problems is that we do not have the dollars that we need to build all the" [...]
Kay Bailey Hutchison, who announced Friday that running for a new office without abandoning the old one was the right thing to do, once said running for a new office while holding another was the wrong thing to do. As the estimable Jason Embry points out, in her 1990 [...]
Austin Bureau chief Christy Hoppe checks up on a Rick Perry statement:
THE CLAIM: In his campaign stump speech, Gov. Rick Perry states that when Texas faced with a budget shortfall in 2003, he and the Legislature cut spending instead of raising taxes but were able to [...]
Texas' other senator, John Cornyn -- the one who isn't running for governor or, as far as we know, contemplating the best timing to quit or not quit the Senate -- is happy that colleague Kay Bailey Hutchison isn't quitting, at least for now.
Cornyn chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee,' [...]
Gromer Jeffers Jr. just broke the news that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has flip-flopped on her publicly announced timetable for resigning from the Senate. She won't quit by the end of this month as she said in July. In fact, she'll stay in her seat through the March gubernatorial primary. [...]
State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, asked recently to respond to those who say Democrats can't win statewide, today poured forth a torrent of reasons Rick Perry can be beaten.
Is Shapleigh (right/AP photo) thinking of running for governor in the March Democratic' [...]
The American public probably won't have much sympathy for Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan upon learning today through his lawyer that he is paralyzed.
But it raises some interesting issues.
Has anyone who is paralyzed ever been executed in this country' [...]
A new Rasmussen poll adds to the good numbers news for Rick Perry. Here's the primary election matchup:
Perry 46
Hutchison 35
Medina 4
Not Sure 14
That means Perry has gained ground since the last Rasmussen poll in September (up 8 percentage points) and Hutchison has lost ground (down [...]
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison tells The Dallas Morning News that the Fort Hood shooter should face 14 murder charges, not just 13. The Army announced that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan will face one specification of murder for each casualty.
But as Hutchison points out, one of the soldiers killed in [...]
That Fort Hood memorial service forced President Barack Obama to delay his 10-day trip to Asia by a full day. He took off this morning. Thanks to the delay, he needed a pinch-hitter at a speech he was supposed to deliver in Singapore on Saturday morning to the Asia-Pacific Economic [...]
Couple of tidbits on our Transportation blog that you political junkies might enjoy:
Michael Lindenberger, our transportation writer extraordinaire, breaks down a new report by the Texas Public Interest Research Group on campaign donations from transportation interests.
Michael is also following the local appearance of House Transportation Committee Chairman [...]
Staff writer Robert T. Garrett examines a claim from Democrat Tom Schieffer:
THE CLAIM: Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Tom Schieffer said Wednesday that Gov. Rick Perry's rejection of federal economic-stimulus money for unemployment benefits soon will increase taxes on Texas employers. "Employers can thank Gov. Perry and" [...]
Gov. Rick Perry's office today fended off people who say the governor sabotaged a review of whether Texas uses "junk science" in arson cases by mentioning that chief arson-evidence critic Barry Scheck helped former NFL running back O.J. Simpson juke past charges he killed his ex-wife.
As we noted in an [...]
Is it possible that the TV war in the Texas governor's race is about to get underway? The Kay Bailey Hutchison campaign is inquiring about the availability of broadcast time and the rates for this month and next - generally a precursor before a campaign starts [...]
Like all political races, the GOP primary in Texas is a numbers game. Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison are competing for support among a finite pool of Republican primary voters. Only question, how many Republican voters will show up next March? Last year was a presidential year and 1.2 [...]
Elbows are flying in the aftermath of yesterday's legislative hearing on Gov. Rick Perry's shakeup of the Texas Forensic Science Commission.
This morning, former commission chairman Sam Bassett, an Austin criminal defense lawyer, sent reporters an email warning that new chairman [...]
Politico has deemed the Texas Republican primary one of the top 10 political races of 2010. Well, yes. The battle between Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison pits Texas' top two politicians in a showdown that already is showing signs it will be brutal and expensive.
Here's what Politico had' [...]
John Fortier, a researcher at the American Enterprise Institute, has an interesting piece for Politico on the usefulness and pitfalls of primaries. He writes with a focus on the recent New York 23rd Congressional District, but his piece is full of notes worth remembering as Texas' biggest primary in a generation' [...]
Memo to Dallas Republican Rep. Pete Sessions: Think twice before making comparisons.
Sessions, who famously compared his own party to the Taliban, is taking heat from liberal groups and Democrats for a comment reportedly made last week in a debate over higher health insurance premiums that women [...]
Late last night, the House narrowly passed its health care bill. Read about it here, here and here.
The legislation would extend health coverage to 36 million Americans, according to the Congressional Budget Office. As you probably know, Texas leads all states in percentage of uninsured residents (25 [...]
Decades of explosive growth. No state income tax. Jobs available for virtually everybody. An unemployment rate of under 4 percent for years and years, until the home-foreclosure and credit crises of 2007-2008. Sound familiar? Can you name the state? (Hint: Not Texas.)
Answer: Nevada. Its boom-state self [...]
Just to follow on Dave Michaels' earlier posting about Rep. Chet Edwards' announcement that he'll vote against the Democrats' health care bill... The politics of his decision, and the reactions to it, are interesting.
Edwards' district is Republican enough that the GOP has been gunning for him for years, and the' [...]
This may not come as a surprise to people who know the red hue of Chet Edwards' House district, but the Waco Democrat just announced he'll vote against the House healthcare bill.
Edwards won't be the only Democrat to vote against the bill, but it is the second no vote he'll [...]
Over on our books blog, Texas Pages, Joy Tipping has the scoop: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and a possible 2012 presidential contender, will bring her book tour to Plano on Dec. 4.
It's friendly turf: Palin and running mate John McCain won Collin [...]
State Board of Education member Rick Agosto of San Antonio, who has battled allegations that he failed to report gifts from a potential state bidder, Friday announced that he will not seek re-election next year. Agosto, a Democrat, did not mention the controversy [...]
Gov. Rick Perry has a new writing partner. Perry and fellow Republican Gov. Mark Sanford teamed up as co-authors to bash Washington. In a December op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Perry and Sanford targeted federal bailouts. Sanford has since been occupied over telling his staff he was hiking [...]
Corporate accountant David Smith will announce next week that he's challenging incumbent Pete Sessions in the March Republican primary.
Smith, active in the conservative tea party movement, says Sessions has not followed the conservative staples of the GOP.
Smith has also criticized Sessions for backing moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava in the zany [...]
State Rep. Chuck Hopson, saying his East Texas district does not reflect the views of President Barack Obama, bolted the Democratic Party.
"I believe in democracy and respect its process," Hopson said in a news release. "I will be running as a Republican in 2010 and will campaign hard to win" [...]
From the White House to Texas, elected officials expressed their support for the families of those killed and wounded in the Fort Hood attack.
Here is a sample of their reaction to the tragedy.
President Barack Obama: "My immediate thoughts and prayers are with the wounded and with the families of the" [...]
During a news conference at Union Station in Dallas, Gov. Rick Perry declared that he was a stronger conservative than Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
"There are always degrees of strength in a particularly designation," Perry said after a speech to an economic development group.
He opted not to fully answer a question [...]
The Great Texas Hair Campaign continues!
Bob Garrett told you about Farouk Shami, the hair-products magnate who says he's running for the Democratic nomination for governor.
But check out the video below, from Jason Embry's First Reading, in which Shami interrogates Austin American-Stateman reporter Corrie MacLaggan about her [...]
Kay Bailey Hutchison and Rick Perry both saw good things in Tuesday's GOP victories in governor races in Virginia and New Jersey. And each sought to frame the results in terms of their campaign message in Texas. Hutchison called it a conservative message against Obama and the Democrats. Perry called [...]
Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn are demanding assurances today that detainees at Guantanamo Bay won't receive H1N1 "swine" flu vaccine until all 159 million Americans at elevated risk have access to a vaccination.
They, along with fellow Republican Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, introduced a resolution this morning to' [...]
Organizing, apparently, does not take a holiday. Even if they call it an anniversary.
The 2008 Obama campaign team has been transformed in 2009 into something called Organizing for America, designed to keep those grassroots seeded and active.
On the one-year anniversary of Obama's election win, the group is [...]
Houston businessman Farouk Shami, a Palestinian immigrant who's been described by Gov. Rick Perry as someone "who pretty much embodies the American dream," appears eager to plunk down $10 mil of his own cash for the chance to try to' [...]
Over on our Transportation blog, Staff Writer Michael Lindenberger makes note of an interview Kinky Friedman gave to Politico, the Washington political news site.
In it, the country-singer-turned-gubernatorial-candidate says his chances of winning in November are "excellent."
And he minces no words in spelling out his [...]
The task was simple enough for leaders of eight youth political groups: grade the performance of President Barack Obama and Congress thus far.
The youth leaders, who represented interests from climate change to veterans affairs, had no problem doling out a steady stream of both praise and concern. But when it [...]
Dallas resident George W. Bush is in Tokyo today, where he tossed out the first pitch -- a one-bouncer -- at Game 3 of the Japan Series, pitting the Yomiuri Giants and the Nippon Ham Fighters.
Maybe Bush couldn't' [...]
A new poll has Rick Perry sizeably ahead of Kay Bailey Hutchison in the GOP primary for governor -- but with four months to go, there are still plenty of undecideds out there. Perry leads Hutchison 42-30 in the University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll of self-described Republican voters. Libertarian-running-as-a-Republican Debra [...]
It's that achy feeling, a little sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, a little sweat. At first you might think it's something serious, but really it's more like an allergic reaction to your opponent's endorsements.
When Rick Perry made a morning appearance at the Texas Medical Association to [...]
Gov. Rick Perry got a shot in the arm from doctors on Monday. The influential Texas Medical Association endorsed the incumbent over rival Kay Bailey Hutchison. (He's accepting in this AP photo with Dr. William Fleming in the background.)
The endorsement was a turn around from [...]
Kay Bailey Hutchison unveiled her "Aggies for Kay" coalition to tweak one of the state's most famous graduates of Texas A&M - Rick Perry. The group includes alumni, former A&M regents, past presidents of the former students association and past chairs of the 12th Man Foundation. Investment banker Jon Hagler [...]
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins today officially endorsed Eric Johnson in the District 100 race for the Texas House.
Johnson is running against incumbent Terri Hodge in the March Democratic Primary.
Hodge told me last week she would seek re-election to her post, even as she fights to stay out of [...]
One of the favorite pastimes for the Perry camp has been to tweak Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison over her game of will-she/won't-she quit the Senate and when-might-that-happen. Well, Gov. Rick Perry knows how to play his cards' [...]
