In the wake of a court ruling keeping state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, on the ballot, lawyers for his Democratic opponent and the Texas Democratic Party are deciding whether to appeal to the Texas Supreme Court. But time is short: Today is the last day a candidate who is removed can be replaced.

They belong to different parties, but incumbent state Reps. Tim Kleinschmidt (R-Lexington) and Patrick Rose (D-Dripping Springs) have a lot in common. Representing adjacent GOP-leaning districts — filled with suburban and rural voters willing to vote for the right Democrats — both Central Texas lawmakers have walked fine partisan lines to win their seats and must do it again this year if they are to fend off relatively well-funded challengers.

House hopeful Bill Flores dodged a question at a meet-and-greet in Hill County on Tuesday about whether he would support the GOP’s leader in the House, according to a recording from the event.

Two years ago, Rep. Chet Edwards stood on the edge of leaping into the upper ranks of the Democratic Party as a long-shot vice presidential candidate.

Sen. John Cornyn is suggesting there could be political fallout from President Barack Obama's remarks about building a mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City.

The candidates for governor are getting their messages out – sometimes in 140 characters or less.

Gov. Rick Perry and his Democratic challenger, Bill White, appeared on the same stage in Austin Thursday. But anyone itching for a debate between the two was disappointed. The candidates were separated on the schedule by other speakers and were never even in the room at the same time.

State Sen. Brian Birdwell defended himself against an eligibility challenge Thursday, claiming his Virginia voting records and other public records show his “presence in Virginia was temporary.”

Over lunch at Mi Tierra last week, Gov. Rick Perry came across as a disciplined candidate in control, minimizing risk and framing things his way.

Suggesting his opponent has something to hide, Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday he will not budge on his refusal to debate unless Democrat Bill White releases more income tax returns.

Rick Perry and Bill White again accused each other Thursday of exploiting racial politics in their increasingly acrimonious campaign for governor.

Democratic officials Thursday night tapped John Cullar, a Waco attorney and former McLennan County Democratic Party chairman, to run against state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, in November’s state Senate race.

Most of the black business and community leaders gathered Tuesday at a Luby's restaurant in southern Dallas will not be voting Republican in November. Yet Bill White, the Democratic nominee for governor, still must sell himself to voters pre-disposed to go Democratic but looking for help getting off the porch and to the polls.

An Edwards press release cited Department of Education estimates that the bill would put $20 million into Congressional District 17, saving 401 jobs in various school districts.

Abilene Congressman Randy Neugebauer said denying U.S. citizenship to children of illegal immigrants is a necessary part of immigration reform.

Houston trial lawyer Steve Mostyn will open a new front in his election-year war against Gov. Rick Perry today by launching a television commercial that criticizes Perry's pursuit of the Trans-Texas Corridor.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White visited Abilene on Monday as President Barack Obama, the most prominent member of his party, was fundraising in Austin and Dallas.

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, announced Monday endorsements from the Texas Farm Bureau and the National Rifle Association.

Ever had a date you didn't want to introduce to your mother? Bill White knows how you felt. The Democratic nominee for governor will campaign today in Midland, Abilene and Alvarado. Where he won't be is in Austin and Dallas, where Barack Obama, the leader of White's party, will be holding two fundraisers and giving a speech on higher education — and, it turns out, meeting briefly with Rick Perry to talk about border issues.

By , SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 9 August 2010
Sure, it's the most liberal city in Texas, a place that has always worn its weirdness on its sleeve. And sure, Perry has lived there since 1991, not long after he became a Republican. It's where his two children, now in their 20s, grew up. But Perry — born and raised in Haskell County, about as far from Austin as you can get in both lifestyle and ideology — views the capital city's wine and cheese crowd as “a target-rich environment” for his conservative political views.

White and Gov. Rick Perry have traded sharp, character-impugning blows over the last week, with White accusing the governor of “cash for favors” cronyism and Perry calling on White to withdraw from the race.

Democratic Party chairs from McLennan County and the nine other counties that form Senate District 22 will decide in the next three weeks whether to nominate a candidate to run against state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury.

The Perry campaign is offering supporters who submit 11 names of registered voters for the campaign to contact a chance to win prizes in a raffle. The gifts include a jogging lesson from RunTex founder Paul Carrozza and a shooting lesson from the paramilitary outfit LaRue Tactical.

By , THE TEXAS TRIBUNE, 3 August 2010
When U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison lost the Republican primary for governor last March, her biggest supporters — the people who gave more than $20 million to her campaign — became political orphans. But many of them have landed with either Republican incumbent Rick Perry or Democratic challenger Bill White, demonstrating a political or geographical or some other kind of affinity for the general election.

Former Houston Mayor Bill White and several of his City Hall staffers became involved in a contract dispute between the Coastal Water Authority and a private firm he had recommended to help provide backup power generation in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita in 2005.

More than a dozen prominent Dallas business and civic leaders, including several who supported Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican primary for governor, have signed a letter backing Democrat Bill White in his effort to unseat Republican Gov. Rick Perry in the Nov. 2 general election.

Republicans and conservatives will perform well in November elections but will need to have ideas they can lay out to voters, former White House adviser Karl Rove said Thursday at a luncheon in Dallas.

Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, strongly denied voting in two states in the 2004 presidential election, correcting what he called “inaccurate news reports which contain false information concerning my voting record.”

The Democratic candidate for Texas agriculture commissioner unveiled what he called a comprehensive reform plan — including a call to restructure some of the state’s bureaucracies — during a stop Wednesday in Abilene.

The newest member of the Texas Senate, Brian Douglas Birdwell, voted in the November 2004 presidential election twice, choosing between George W. Bush and John Kerry in Tarrant County, Texas, and again in Prince William County, Virginia, according to election records in the two states.

A local Republican operative who helped put the Green Party on the Texas ballot was working at the time for Gov. Rick Perry's re-election campaign.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White cut sharply into Gov. Rick Perry's endorsements from border sheriffs Monday, but stumbled by claiming support from two who are backing the incumbent.

Political observers, party faithful and a pair of gubernatorial candidates have been consumed by one question for nearly eight months: How close is the race between Republican Rick Perry and Democrat Bill White?

Two area Tea Party groups have changed names to convey their wider reach, organizers said.

Three years after Gov. Rick Perry's biggest real estate score, questions persist about whether the governor benefited from favoritism, backroom dealing and influence-buying.

Latinos are the sleeping giants in Texas politics. That phrase is repeated so much it has become cliché. Nearly 37 percent of the state's population of about 24.8 million people is Latino but almost any political expert will tell you that the group does not fully exercise its strength in elections.

Several hours before taking the stage at Hill College’s Performing Arts Center for a ceremony in his honor (link), new state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, talked to the Tribune-Herald about his first month on the job, his desire to earn the GOP general election nomination and redistricting.

Todd Gillman at the Dallas Morning News and the New York Times' Jeff Zeleny have both reported on the House Democratic campaign committee's signal that it will pour millions of dollars into TV ads in 40 House districts including that of Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco.

The Legislature is inching rightward. Those who think our state lawmakers are too moderate have notched a number of victories over the past year.

The Hispanic vote in Texas is often referred to as a "sleeping giant" because of historically low turnout. If Hispanics were to show up at the ballot box in record numbers, they could easily influence elections of all kinds.

A Houston husband-and-wife lawyer team is planning to donate more than $3 million this year toward knocking Republican Gov. Rick Perry out of office and helping Democrats win control of the Texas House.

President Barack Obama's fundraising trip next month to Texas probably won't include a joint appearance with his party's pick for governor, Bill White.

The Hispanic Republicans of Texas political action committee formally launched Tuesday with slick television commercials, but not the money to air them, and admitted that a tense atmosphere over race and immigration politics hamper the group's efforts.

Gov. Rick Perry and his Democratic rival, Bill White, accused each other Monday of lying about or trying to hide their profits in the oil and gas industry, the latest spat in an increasingly nasty race.

Gov. Rick Perry defended the state's handling of natural gas drilling regulations at an appearance Monday in Fort Worth, and he made it clear that he wants the federal government to butt out of the state's handling of environmental issues related to drilling.

With nearly four months until Election Day, the campaigns of Republican Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples and his Democratic opponent, Hank Gilbert, have gotten especially vicious, with personal attacks flooding Twitter and allegations of law-breaking and corruption plastering websites.

GOP Gov. Rick Perry is walking a fine line as he rejects importing Arizona's get-tough immigration law but blasts the feds for challenging it and refuses to take part in a border governors' conference forced out of Phoenixby a boycott.

The Texans leading the GOP fight for Congress predicted a Republican surge in November, sparring today on NBC’s Meet the Press with Democratic counterparts who accused them of seeking a return to failed Bush-era policies.

Democrat Andy Wilson knows he’s facing an uphill battle in trying to get elected to Congress in one of the most Republican districts in the country.

Gov. Rick Perry delivered a patriotic speech to the Texas Farm Bureau on Thursday, but gave short shrift to the property rights issue that caused a split between him and one of the state's largest agricultural organizations.

The candidates for Texas governor clashed over private property protections and portrayed themselves as friends of agriculture as they sought support Thursday from the Texas Farm Bureau.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White on Thursday accused GOP Gov. Rick Perry of betraying Texas farmers by vetoing an eminent domain bill and of being willing to say whatever it takes "to maintain his grip on power."

They look like television commercials for Gov. Rick Perry and Democratic challenger Bill White, but they actually are Internet videos that the campaigns and partisans churn out on a weekly basis.

As people nationwide connect with the Coffee Party, Park and others believe they are getting closer to that calm dialogue. On Facebook, nearly 230,000 have signed on to the "Join the Coffee Party Movement." At least 680 have signed on to the movement in Texas and more than 100 in Fort Worth, according to their Facebook pages.

If the rainbow flavors of the Tea Party feature a common taste, it’s that of fiscally restrained government — and the anti-Washington and pro-state fervor that comes along with it. Not coincidentally, that was the overwhelming theme of the Republican Party of Texas’ recent convention, setting the tone — as the Democrats did in their state gathering — for the November general election.

Gov. Rick Perry, absent from the first candidate face-off of the general election, became the target of the Democratic and Libertarian nominees for governor Monday night as they chided him for being unwilling to take questions from taxpayers.

Racetrack and casino interests that want to expand Texas gambling dangled promises of new tax revenue before lawmakers Wednesday, but faced tough, skeptical questions from Democrats over the economic benefits and social costs.

Igniting an angry backlash from Gov. Rick Perry and other state officials, the EPA on Wednesday upended the state's 16-year-old air permitting program in a ruling affecting more than 100 industrial sites, including two in North Texas.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White told a group of Bexar County lawyers Tuesday that "integrity starts at the top" and accused Gov. Rick Perry of linking state appointments to campaign contributions.

A Republican consultant with ties to Gov. Rick Perry is the latest in a growing number of GOP operatives described in court documents as helping the Green Party get on the Texas ballot.

This week, Bill White returns to center stage as the top nominee of a party still out of power, carrying a blueprint for recovery that Democrats first heard when he was chairman all those years ago: Move to the middle, reflect the mainstream and focus less on polarizing voters and more on making things work.

The Texas Democratic Party’s state convention is underway in Corpus Christi. There will be the usual speeches from candidates like gubernatorial hopeful Bill White, a debate over the party’s platform and a vote to determine its next chair. But one of the biggest fights of the weekend could come when party officials revisit a two-year-old discussion of the “Texas Two-Step,” the system Texas Democrats use to award delegates in the presidential primary election process.

Texas House Speaker Joe Straus is under fire from the left and right.

Not everyone wants to admit it, but having a Libertarian on the ballot tends to favor the Democrat in a close race, taking a few percentage points away from Republican candidates and allowing Democrats to squeak by. And that party's November slate could give an edge to Democrats in more than a dozen races.

Fourteen years later, as Democrats converge today on Corpus Christi for their convention, they're once again relying on Bill White, now a former three-term Houston mayor.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White promised Wednesday to make college accessible for every Texan who wants to attend.

Lobbyist David Sibley of Waco, once a critical player in the Legislature, lost his bid to return to the Texas Senate on Tuesday to political newcomer and fellow Republican Brian Birdwell.

Karen Petree, chairwoman of the McLennan County Democratic Party, didn't offer any names Tuesday night, when asked what Democrat, if any, might take on recently elected Brian Birdwell in a potential general election showdown.

Tonight is the legally imposed reporting deadline for the next round of campaign finance reports, which is big deal for two reasons: Candidates want to show momentum and credibility at mid year, and they love having an excuse to ask supporters to pony up before the clock strikes 12. Hurry, hurry, hurry!

Last week State Rep. Tara Rios Ybarra, D-South Padre Island, was indicted on charges she engaged in Medicaid fraud — the second House member from South Texas to be indicted in less than a year. But their colleagues insist that such corruption isn't a regional thing, no matter what the stereotype suggests.

Democrats are broadening their attacks over Rep. Joe Barton's much-maligned – and retracted – apology to the chief executive of BP, arguing that he represents fellow Republican lawmakers on the issue.

Democratic political rallies are a rare occurrence in Collin County, where Republicans dominate virtually every level of government. Yet on Monday evening here in the heart of GOP territory, a slate of Democratic candidates rallied in the hopes of breaking the Republican stranglehold on Dallas' northern suburbs.

State Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler is expected to file as a candidate for the Speaker of the House position during the 82nd Legislative Session in January 2011.

Democrat Bill White is raising questions about Gov. Rick Perry's judgment and character with increasing frequency as he tries to persuade Texans to put their partisan preferences aside and make a change atop state government.

The long summer just began and the fall election is more than four months away, but for the Amarillo Tea Party Patriots this is no time to take a break.

State Sen. Wendy Davis, 47, of Fort Worth will speak to her first state party convention today. She and Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, 42, drew handshakes and even cheers Friday as they walked among the noticeably younger-than-usual convention crowds.

By most accounts, this has been a good month for Democratic candidate for governor Bill White.

Chalk up another Texas victory for Barack Obama. Two years after the state party’s primary/caucus combination allowed Obama to win more presidential delegates than Hillary Clinton, Democrats voted at their convention this weekend in Corpus Christi to keep the so-called “Texas two-step.”

Democrats rallied around gubernatorial candidate Bill White at their state convention Friday night as White hammered Republican Rick Perry, casting him as a part-time governor trying to climb the national political ladder.

For all the things that Democrats wanted to talk about at their state convention, there was one thing they didn't: Washington.

This weekend more than 5,000 delegates will be in Corpus Christi for their convention. In contrast to Texas Republicans before their meeting in Dallas, the Democrats have no thorny issues to tackle.

Texas Democrats will gather this week at their state convention to trash Rick Perry, trumpet the virtues of Bill White and cement party unity as they head into the final months of the 2010 general election campaign.

Republicans have been among those criticizing Rep. Joe Barton's apology to oil giant BP. But the thrust of his attack – that the administration had overstepped its authority in pressuring BP to set up an escrow account for damages – echoed criticism from many of his fellow Republicans this week.

GOP Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday accused Democrat Bill White of engaging in profiteering during Hurricane Rita in 2005 by directing a local water authority to award a contract to a company to which he had financial ties.

Wales Madden Jr., an Amarillo attorney and civic leader, cast his first Republican vote in 1948, for almost-President Thomas E. Dewey. Although he admits to voting for Democrats in the 1950s and 1960s, when Texas Republicans were a rare breed, he has voted almost exclusively GOP since Democrat-turned-Republican John Connally asked him to be the statewide party chairman for his presidential bid in 1976.

Abilene Congressman Randy Neugebauer is so keen to propel other conservatives — not just Republicans — into Congress that he would consider contributing to a conservative Democrat’s campaign as midterm elections approach.

The Magnolia, as state Republican Party convention hotels go, is an outlier. And it's here in the lobby that Debra Medina, the tea party favorite who made an impressive stand in the primary for governor, is rousing the GOP rabble.

As Texas Republicans descend on Dallas this week for their annual convention, they are energized to a degree they didn't expect this time last year. Increasingly confident that any plumes of lingering Obamamania have been dispersed and sensing that Democrats across the country are running scared, they feel almost giddy about their chances in November, in Texas and elsewhere.

If there was a political lesson to be learned today, it was this: Don’t hold a press availability at your opponent’s headquarters.

Gov. Rick Perry launched blistering attacks on rival Bill White and the ways of Washington on Friday, urging his party not to take Democrats for granted.

The fall election is five months away but political candidates aren't the only ones working on what promises to be spirited campaigns for the Texas Legislature.

Houston attorney Kathie Glass won the Libertarian nomination for governor Saturday and vowed to siphon conservative support from Republican incumbent Rick Perry by appealing to Tea Party activists and supporters of former GOP candidate Debra Medina.

Everywhere you looked at the Dallas Convention Center, people were wearing their victimhood.

Gov. Rick Perry emerged from the state Republican convention this weekend with a solid hold on his party's base heading into his November challenge from Democrat Bill White.

Highlights from speeches Friday by Republican officials and candidates for top offices

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White denied Thursday that he has improperly benefited from a profitable investment in an energy company hired to help the Houston area recover from Hurricane Rita five years ago, the same time he was the city's mayor.

Four candidates face a runoff election Saturday for the Alamo Colleges board of trustees, and all say they are battling the same enemy — voter apathy.

Gov. Rick Perry said tonight that he has “studiously stayed away” from talks about where Texas universities should head if the Big 12 conference continues to crumble.

The Texas Republican Party, on the topic of immigration reform, already eschews any shade of gray in its red, white and blue platform: It begins: "No amnesty! No how. No way."

Gov. Rick Perry painted the upcoming election as a religious crusade to take back the soul of the country during a Thursday night speech to the conservative Texas Eagle Forum.

Speaking to reporters a day after Rick Perry accused him of “profiting from Hurricane Rita,” Bill White accused his Republican opponent of lying about his relationship with a company called upon to supply temporary power in the aftermath of the 2005 storm.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry took his Washington-bashing rhetoric to the Republican state convention, portraying his fight against an overreaching federal government as a divine quest in a speech to a gathering of staunch conservatives.

The 12,000 Republican activists in Dallas for their state convention will face a political scene that bears few reminders of a once-dominant local party.

The secretary of state cleared the way Wednesday for the Green Party to be on the ballot this fall in Texas, but party officials say they won't field candidates without assurances that their petition drive was legal.

Republican Gov. Rick Perry accused Democratic challenger Bill White on Wednesday of "profiteering" from Hurricane Rita and said White should drop out of the race if he can't clear up the allegations.

On paper, he looked good: current state senator with a long resume including his role as a former regent for the Texas State University System — and Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, really wanted the job as chancellor of that system.

Norm Adams wants Texas to find middle ground in the nationwide immigration debate. The 65-year-old Houston insurance agent caused a ruckus Tuesday by presenting his "sensible immigration policy" -- a proposal that the Texas Republican Party reverse course and support a path to legalization -- to party faithful gathered in Dallas to prepare for their state convention.

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, hammered GOP opponent Bill Flores this week for warning against Congress “trying to make victims out of the companies involved” in the BP oil spill.

Former Houston Mayor Bill White, who was widely praised for guiding his city through the devastation of Hurricane Rita, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Tuesday that he made money by investing in a company that was hired to help the region recover from the storm.

With much of the electorate now embracing their contempt for big government and oppressive regulation, members of the Texas Libertarian Party believe that they are finally getting a long-overdue measure of respect as they prepare to choose their nominees for governor and other statewide offices.

Nobody's openly campaigning right now, but there's talk of who might succeed Joe Straus if he stumbles before January.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White's campaign chided Gov. Rick Perry on Monday for keeping a schedule that Team White says is light on official events.

One of the state's leading election experts says a petition drive funded through an out-of-state group to put the Green Party on the ballot this fall might have violated state law.

Gov. Rick Perry says that where some see an $18 billion budget gap ahead for Texas, he sees a figure plucked from the sky.

At a San Antonio Tea Party rally at Olmos Basin Park, organizers invited people to sign a One Million Signature Balanced Budget Amendment Petition that they plan to unveil at the National Mall in Washington.

Republicans have won statewide election after statewide election over the past 15 years, but the state party's sizable debt load has spurred questions about whether the GOP can maintain its dominance of Texas politics over the long term.

The liberal Green Party's uphill battle to get on the Texas ballot this fall has been fueled by a surprising benefactor: an out-of-state Republican consultant with a history of helping conservative causes and GOP candidates.

State officials cite the criminal history checks for pistol-packing visitors as a reason they are allowed to go around the checkpoints, but many state workers with employee IDs are waved around the metal detectors but have not undergone such checks.

It's one of the safest parts of America, and it's getting safer. It's the U.S.-Mexico border, and even as politicians say more federal troops are needed to fight rising violence, government data obtained by The Associated Press show it actually isn't so dangerous after all.

Republicans fighting tough battles in a critical election year need to go soft, former presidential adviser Karl Rove said before a Thursday book signing event in Lubbock.

Redistricting is a highly partisan exercise, but there's likely to be more at work than mere politics in 2011.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison hasn't decided whether to retire at the end of 2012, and the possibility that she'll run again leaves a major question mark over the already competitive field of candidates lined up to replace her.

The Texas Department of Transportation should significantly alter its leadership structure, reshuffle its executive ranks and reduce the role engineers play in leading the sprawling agency. That's according to a new -- and at 628 pages, exhaustive -- audit of its management and structure by the accounting firm Grant Thornton.

The Texas electorate is all about Us and Them. Saying things are better in here than they are in Washington, voters think the rest of the country should look to the state as a model of how things ought to work, according to the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.

More than half of likely Texas voters like the idea of expanding casino gambling to help reduce the state's budget deficit, according to a telephone poll. Rasmussen Reports asked 500 likely Texas voters were asked about ways to address the budget deficit on May 13. The results: 57 percent favor legalizing casino gambling, 33 percent oppose it. The remaining 10 percent answered not sure.

Gov. Rick Perry is writing a book due out this fall that will blast Washington for overreaching and intruding on the rights of states and individuals.

Texas has among the most restrictive ballot access laws of any state, which is why the Green Party hasn't put its candidates before voters here since 2002. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports that party activists hope to end the dry spell this year.

House Democrats are not as enthused with House Speaker Joe Straus today as they were when they essentially made him speaker nearly 18 months ago when the San Antonio Republican emerged to take on incumbent Tom Craddick, R-Midland.

Annise Parker's criticisms of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (known as Metro to those who speak Houston) have been music to the ears of Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who is trying to hold off a November challenge from Parker's predecessor, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White said Saturday that if elected in November, he would pick a new chairman for the State Board of Education to “undo some of the damage” from controversial social studies curriculum standards adopted Friday. Critics contend they shortchange minorities and push a rosy view of history.

Republican Rick Perry leads Democrat Bill White by nine percentage points — 44 percent to 35 percent — in the 2010 race for governor, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.

The war of words between the two men who want to be governor escalated this week, with the Bill White campaign insinuating that Gov. Rick Perry has used a business incentive fund to provide “kickbacks” to friends and supporters.

Details of life inside Rick Perry's temporary digs made headlines this week, revealing that — in addition to $9,900 a month in rent — taxpayers foot the bill for Neiman Marcus curtains, $700 clothes racks and a subscription to Food & Wine magazine. Are the posh trappings a political problem for the governor?

Five members of the U.S. House are lashing out at Gov. Rick Perry for what they say is his refusal to allocate more of the federal funding that moves through his office to the border. Perry claims his hands are tied and insists the congresssmen need to check their math. While the back and forth continues, residents of the border fear for their lives.

On the heels of a Rasmussen Poll that had Democrat Bill White well behind incumbent Republican Rick Perry in the race for governor, Austin-based Opinion Analysts released a survey showing a nine-point lead for Perry. But that Democratic polling firm adds a fat caveat, reading the Guv's favorability ratings as negative and pointing out that 48 percent of voters want a change in the state's top offi...

Rasmussen Reports released new poll numbers today showing Gov. Rick Perry widening his lead over Bill White. The results are as follows: Perry has 51 percent, White has 38 percent, "some other candidate" has 4 percent and 6 percent are "not sure." This is White's poorest showing to date. The previous Rasmussen poll had him trailing Perry within the margin of error, 44 to 48. Here's more from Ra...

What we're seeing in Texas governor's race is a contest between a masterful battlefield general and a canny courtroom lawyer. Each brings a set of instincts about how to outmaneuver an opponent, which sets this up as a fascinating battle of tacticians. Rick Perry learned the art of campaigning through winning elections back to 1984, when he first captured a state representative.

An anti-Texas backlash is evident from one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to the other, a reaction to the cowboy bravado of the Bush years, the brash “bring 'em on” ethos that many national politicians linked to the 43rd president's home state.

It's an impulse most of us learn to suppress in seventh or eighth grade—the need to give your foes wedgies, to stick colored dye tablets in their faucets, to tape "kick me" signs to their backs and put lizards in their lunchboxes. Political people don't suppress these urges. They channel them into goofy stunts to attract attention, to ridicule opponents, and to blow off steam.

They say demographics is destiny, and if so, Texas Republicans will have to try harder in the coming years if they want to keep the state in the red column.

Though most Hispanic voters are not likely to side with the Republican governor in his re-election contest in November against Democrat Bill White, that isn't stopping Perry from working to get their vote.

Key lawmaker puts gambling on the table, unemployment taxes on businesses will be up $1.1 billion this year and a Senate panel considers whether public officials are Tweeting their way around open-meetings laws.

It's not only rich people and lobbyists and interest group activists who make political contributions. Texas congressional candidates gave at least $1.3 million to other campaigns and causes over the last 15 months, according to itemized records of campaign expenditures released for the first time by the Federal Election Commission.

Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday released a five-year strategic plan outlining the state's "high-level roadmap" to deal with threats including natural disasters, disease outbreaks, terrorist attacks, gangs and violence along the Mexican border.

Democratic contender Hank Gilbert is accusing incumbent Republican Todd Staples of ignoring the potential harm to Texas shrimpers from the oil gushing from a BP well since late April.

The former Houston mayor and Democratic nominee for governor joined a list of former opponents who have questioned Perry's use of the Enterprise Fund, which draws taxpayer money and a portion of payroll taxes to entice businesses to relocate or expand in Texas.

The amount spent on lobbyists has grown in every Texas legislative session for a decade — until the national recession stemmed the spending for the 2009 Legislature, according to a report released Monday by Texans for Public Justice.

At the beginning of 2010, a critical political action committee in Texas Democratic politics reported a campaign finance balance of $453.46. That turns out to be a non-surprising condition for the checking account at the Texas Democratic Trust. The PAC, run by Washington, D.C.-based consultant Matt Angle, has raised $10.4 million since its first report with the Texas Ethics Commission in 2005. It has spent, well, all but $453.46 of that.

Next month, the Republican Party of Texas will host its biennial convention in Dallas, and by most accounts delegates and activists are fired up.

David Sibley's been here before. The former senator, prosecutor, mayor, city councilman, lawyer, dentist, and most recently, lobbyist, is telling the McLennan County Republican Women over lunch at a local hotel that they have three good Republican candidates to choose from. And, he says, they should go with experience.

Arizona's new anti-illegal immigration law puts a spotlight on a battleground issue for Gov. Rick Perry and his Democratic challenger Bill White, but it has political liabilities for both candidates.

Democrat Bill White must appeal to an unlikely source to win the race for governor: the Grand Old Party.

Arizona's tough new illegal immigration enforcement law would not be right for Texas, Gov. Rick Perry said on Thursday, upholding the state's long-held tradition of rejecting harsh anti-immigrant policies.

Vacant car lots, shuttered businesses and the grind of bad economic news is wearing down Texans' belief in a better tomorrow, according to a new survey of state voters, and that could be even worse news for Gov. Rick Perry.

The U.S. Supreme Court opened the door for corporations to pour money into influencing Texas elections, but the state ethics commission today is taking up a rule to make sure voters know who is spending the money.

The national Democratic and Republican parties are wasting no time jumping into two Texas congressional races in which incumbent Democrats Ciro Rodriguez and Chet Edwards face stiff challenges.

Inside his office, the Governor greeted us cheerfully and plopped down on a leather sofa, eager to talk about a full range of topics: the Tea Party, health care reform, Mexico, the state budget and, of course, his plans for 2012.

Two Hispanic candidates romped to victory in Republican congressional runoffs last week, just a little more than a month after Texas' highest-ranking Hispanic officeholder blamed his GOP primary loss on bias against Hispanics.

After clobbering Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the March Republican primaries, Gov. Rick Perry is steadily raising his national profile, fueling speculation that he is quietly building a campaign for the White House in 2012.

The Independent Conservative Republicans of Texas can't corral all the independent, conservative Republicans in the Texas Legislature.

A year later, the rallies and protests continue. In fact, there will be several in Austin and around the state today. But Tea Party activists have also shown they can win elections. Their anointed candidates helped defeat two of the most moderate Republicans in the Texas House in this year's primaries and helped several other hopefuls capture open legislative seats around the state.

The oldest member of the Texas Legislature and a feisty pro-labor activist from El Paso have lost their House seats, both to more conservative challengers.

In a runoff election pitting experience against ideology, Republican voters opted for experience Tuesday, selecting 22-year family law judge Debra Lehrmann as the party's nominee for a seat on the Texas Supreme Court.

Eying another presidential bid, Texas Rep. Ron Paul is telling Republican activists that "the American people have awoken" because Washington won't address the nation's fiscal crisis.

A new group co-founded by former President George W. Bush's nephew held its first fundraiser Friday night in downtown Fort Worth.

The national coffee party movement was born in January, after a documentary filmmaker from Maryland named Annabel Park posted a Facebook status update calling for the creation of a coffee party for those who felt their voices had been drowned out by the conservative tea party movement: "Let's get together and drink cappuccino and have real political dialogue with substance and compassion," Park wrote.

Every candidate vying for a legislative seat knows what lies ahead in the 2011 session: a budget shortfall of at least $11 billion, probably higher. But when it comes to raising revenue, lawmakers are old hands at the old sleight-of-hand, employing creative accounting to avoid stepping on that political third rail, the tax hike.

Bill White faults incumbent Gov. Rick Perry for minimizing the school dropout problem. Nearly 1 million Texas students have failed to graduate or get a GED on time during the past nine years, White said Tuesday.

In a race focused on who is better equipped to sit on the Texas Supreme Court, the state's legal profession has picked its candidate for the GOP runoff election: Debra Lehrmann, a Fort Worth state District Court judge.

Texas Republicans, what do you want in a Supreme Court justice?

Gov. Rick Perry confidently predicts we'll see Kay Bailout Hutchison — excuse me, she's back to her pre-primary title of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison — campaigning for him.

Is this the year? The year that the state's soon-to-be-majority minority group begins to exert the power and political influence reflective of its formidable numbers? The year that long-beleaguered Texas Democrats climb aboard the demographic express and ride out of the political wilderness?

Early voting for the April 13 primary runoffs starts Monday and on the same day every candidate in the next round must report to the Texas Ethics Commission all money raised from March 1 through today.

Texans have plenty at stake from an accurate and complete count by the U.S. Census Bureau, especially with the prospect of an extra four seats in Congress. If only more of us would go to the mailbox.

Shortly after Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced that she will finish her term rather than resign, several Texans who would have run in a special election for the post said they're ramping up campaigns for when Texas' senior senator's six-year term expires.

The U.S. Census Bureau is gradually getting back the estimated 130 million questionnaires the agency sent to every address in the nation two weeks ago.

Census organizers are looking to show the changing face of Lubbock and the South Plains.

WASHINGTON – Rep. Chet Edwards has survived year after year as a Democrat in an increasingly Republican Central Texas district.

AUSTIN -- For now, it's being waged quietly below the surface as party operatives, consultants, computer wonks and legislative analysts pore over emerging census data and preliminary maps charting population changes.

AUSTIN – The state Republican Party has asked Democratic House members to produce all e-mails and documents exchanged between their offices and 27 consultants who have worked on Democratic strategy or campaigns.

AUSTIN – In the Republican primary, Rick Perry attracted national attention as a Southern governor touting states' rights and entertaining the idea of secession.

In politics, the crayon is mightier than the ballot. A political mapmaker can do more to change the power structure than a herd of consultants with fat bank accounts behind them. And 2011 will be the Year of the Mapmakers.

Texas' 20 Republican U.S. House members are urging Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to set aside plans to resign.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has said repeatedly that she will resign after the health care fight. Today, the president will sign into law the result of that fight: a controversial overhaul of the nation's health care system. Where does that leave the senator from Texas?

Gov. Rick Perry's campaign recently celebrated Mayor Annise Parker's assessment that Houston, under his Democratic opponent Bill White, spent more than it has taken in “for years.”

How best to keep Texas' border secure will always cause political fights, but you've got to wonder when a Democratic candidate for governor touts readier access to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security than the GOP incumbent asking for help.

On Sept. 25, 2008, Triton Financial CEO Kurt Barton made his largest-ever political contribution, according to Texas Ethics Commission records: a $33,000 donation to Gov. Rick Perry. Barely three weeks later, Perry stood next to Barton and former professional football player Ty Detmer, at the time a Triton executive, at an Austin news conference

The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, holding its annual convention in Fort Worth, on Friday endorsed Gov. Rick Perry for re-election even though some of its members actively backed Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican primary.

The way Karl Rove remembers it, he was such a hot political property in Texas in the 1990s even Democrats wanted to hire him.

A legislative hearing suddenly gave way Wednesday to second-guessing of Bill White's fiscal management of Houston, and a swift rebuttal from the Democratic nominee for governor.

The day before last week's primaries Texas House District 84 voters received a mailer critical of Lubbock businessman Mark Griffin, who's seeking the Republican nomination for the seat incumbent Carl Isett is vacating in January.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White won't rule out using a tax increase to fix the looming state deficit, and Gov. Rick Perry's team can hardly contain its glee.

Democratic challenger Bill White criticized Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, on Tuesday for pressing state agencies to cut their spending by 5 percent, calling the approach "Soviet-style" budget management.

Sen. John Cornyn called Texas only “marginally” Republican this morning, less than a week after a primary that drew the most GOP voters in at least 30 years.

State Sen. Kip Averitt, a Waco Republican who won nomination to a new term last week even though he told voters he didn't want to serve, announced Monday that he will resign his seat March 17.

The fact that 50 percent of Texans did not support Perry's harsh, hard-right agenda four years ago is good news for White. Perry's recent rhetoric about secession and his bragging that Texas is “recession-proof” — at a time when 1 million Texans are out of work — make him a hero to the GOP's right wing. But those aspects also make him vulnerable in a general election.

After rallying behind Gov. Rick Perry in his Republican primary fight against U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, anti-abortion advocates are now preparing for round two as they get ready to help Perry in his days-old general election battle against Democratic nominee Bill White.

A key difference between Perry and Hutchison, though, was that the senator began by thanking Republican dignitaries who had endorsed her: former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara; former Vice President Dick Cheney; and former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and James Baker — whom she referred to as “Jimmy.”

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White said Monday that he does not support the legalization of slot machines and does not think Texas should legalize casinos across the state.

One thing striking about Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's failed effort to oust an incumbent governor was that until she began running against Rick Perry, she never piped up about cronyism, mismanagement of the state budget, the cervical cancer vaccine mandate, the Trans-Texas Corridor or most of the other shortcomings she hammered for the last 13 months.

The most unpleasant thing for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison this week must have been her inglorious loss to Gov. Rick Perry in Tuesday's Republican gubernatorial primary. Second to that has to have been reading and hearing what various people had to say about what she did wrong. Some were already writing her political obituary."She took a ... beating," said Cal Jillson, a political science profess...

The first poll of the November general-election race between Rick Perry and Bill White shows the Republican governor with a 6-point lead over his Democratic challenger, supporting predictions that the Texas gubernatorial battle will be one of the most competitive in years.

After months of attacking U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday that she's fighting "the good fight" against the Obama administration and should stay in the Senate.

When Gov. Rick Perry addressed supporters in Driftwood at his victory party Tuesday night, he sounded a lot more like a candidate for a national office than for a state one.

Not every race turned out the way political insiders — or the candidates themselves — anticipated. Here are a dozen primary races that defied conventional wisdom, stunned incumbents and shocked long-shot contenders.

Who could've guessed that one of the GOP's most intriguing primary races featuring a nail-biting finish, unconventional candidates and the only statewide runoff for either major party would be for an open seat on the traditionally staid Texas Supreme Court?

Bill White can beat Rick Perry.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said she would retire after the gubernatorial primary win or lose, but after the shellacking she got Tuesday night from Gov. Rick Perry, her friends, colleagues and analysts bet she'll stay in the Senate -- perhaps even completing her term, which runs through 2012.

Anti-establishment voters simply didn't materialize at the polls on Tuesday, and most Republican incumbents cruised to victory over their Tea Party challengers.

AUSTIN – While voters rejected five House incumbents in Tuesday's primaries, every senator who filed to run for re-election was renominated – even one in Waco who stopped campaigning.

Among the key questions after Kay Bailey Hutchison's bitter primary defeat Tuesday: Will her fans really support Rick Perry in the general election? In her concession speech, Hutchison called on supporters to "unite behind Governor Perry." But the applause was tepid, highlighting the deep ambivalence her followers have about what to do next. Among the Hutchison supporters the Chronicle spoke...

The high-profile races didn't yield surprises, but there was a big upset in the Railroad Commission race in which an unknown, underfunded candidate who barely campaigned knocked off incumbent Victor Carrillo. Carrillo, a former Taylor County judge, lawyer and geologist, expressed a fear earlier this week that his Latino surname made him vulnerable, and his premonition proved right.

The blame for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's overwhelming defeat should be spread rather evenly among her confidants, her paid staff, her former paid staff and Hutchison herself.

Save for the inevitable run-off here and there, voters will be greeted in November by a ballot that will largely take shape tonight. But they'll have an option available to them in the fall that they don't, or didn't, have today: They’ll be able to vote the straight ticket — that is, they'll be able to vote for their preferred political party's entire slate of candidates with one punch of a button.

Even though most of the focus for the last couple of months has been on the outcome of contested primaries, nearly half of the next Legislature has already been chosen.

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry’s bragged this week about making fundraising history in a Texas governor’s

AUSTIN — Secession. Nullification. States rights. Federal balanced budget amendments. The Republican campaigns leading into Tuesday's primary elections have focused more on Washington than Austin and the Lone Star State.

Taking a page from the playbook of social conservatives, the tea party movement is trying to change the Republican Party of Texas from the ground up.

It might be generalized voter anger or frustration that 17 incumbent Republican state representatives will face from challengers in Tuesday's party primary.

While U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is hoarding money for a possible Republican runoff, campaign finance reports show Gov. Rick Perry has increased his spending on television commercials in hopes of winning Tuesday's primary outright.

One of the wonders at Wonderland of the Americas on Tuesday was that Kenneth Platt voted Republican for the first time in his life.

After rising from obscurity to become a significant factor in the three-way Republican race for governor, candidate Debra Medina appears to be losing ground after her remarks in a national radio interview about the 9-11 terrorist attacks, according to two public opinion surveys released Tuesday.

Texas expects a shortfall of at least $12 billion when lawmakers meet to write the next budget, but major candidates for governor have few specifics on how they would exert their leadership to close the gap.

Texans are turning out in big numbers in this year's primaries, buoyed by a high-profile race for governor with candidates crisscrossing the state and spending millions on TV.

State Sen. Dan Patrick, called a GOP party crasher when elected on an anti-tax wave, is getting shots from the anti-establishment crowd as he surfs closer to a possible statewide race.

With just a week of early voting remaining, Republicans are continuing to choose not just which gubernatorial candidate they want in the general election, but in some cases, who they think will better match up against likely Democratic nominee Bill White.

Kinky Friedman and Hank Gilbert, dueling Democratic candidates for agriculture commissioner, appeared in North Texas this week.

Sen. Robert Duncan is a longtime friend of Rep. Delwin Jones for a good number of reasons, but mainly because the two Lubbock Republicans have served together in the Texas Legislature for 17 years.

One week into early voting for the primary election, and one thing is clear: Republicans care about this election.

Compared to the heated Texas House race in the Panhandle, the Republican contest in District 85 has been low key in this historic primary season.

To win on election day, candidates are after "fans," "friends" and "followers." All of them can be found on the Internet, and all can translate into votes.

John Carona still has the bulk and rolling shoulders that he once used to plow through a defensive line for Bryan Adams High School.

Friedman calls for 'power to the people' in bid for ag commissioner.

For 16 years, District 52 was in Republican hands. Four Republican candidates hope to return the House district in southeastern Williamson County back to the fold, after Democrat Diana Maldonado won the seat two years ago, amid a national Democratic tide.

Gov. Rick Perry said after casting an early ballot today that it's out of bounds to ask him if another four-year term as governor would be his last.

Kay Bailey Hutchison is counting on female voters to recognize her history of cracking glass ceilings as the first Republican woman in the state Legislature, as state treasurer, as a U.S. senator from Texas and, just maybe, as governor.

A competitive Republican gubernatorial race and mild winter weather helped drive brisk local turnout Tuesday on the first day of primary election early voting.

Environmentalists' favorite buzz words–green energy, biofuels, sustainable development–are fast becoming the jargon of agriculture workers and the politicians who support them.

Eight years ago, Gov. Rick Perry unveiled a plan for a 4,000-mile network of transportation corridors that he said would cut air pollution and unclog roadways in a state once known for its superior highway system.

Maybe it's just good luck for Republicans. The last time a Texas Republican headed up the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP, under the campaign baton of Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, took control of the Senate in 1994.

In honor of today's kickoff of early voting–a two-week period in which political junkies, committed activists and other go-to-the-head-of-the-class types line up to cast ballots for their favorite candidates, unable to contain their enthusiasm or anger until March 2–we present five different installments in our Primary Color series.

The U.S. senator campaigned in Fort Worth on Monday with Dallas Cowboys great Roger Staubach. She said he's known for coming from behind and inventing the Hail Mary pass, which is "looking better all the time."

Universal Insurance Exchange and its management arm, Universal Paratransit, had been on the department's trouble list for years before it came under state supervision.

The first poll for the agriculture commissioner primary shows the race too close to call.

The Express-News Editorial Board strongly recommends Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison as the best Republican candidate.

While Gov. Rick Perry is leading in the polls, some potential storm clouds lie ahead in the fall general election if he's the Republican nominee.

Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the state's two leading Republicans, have turned into each other's harshest detractors.

In contrast to residents of many other states, a majority of those surveyed believe that Texas is heading in the right direction. But many Texans are also troubled by continued fallout from the recession, citing jobs and the economy as the dominant issues as the March 2 primaries approach.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White is still largely an unknown to many voters and would trail the two leading Republican candidates in a head-to-head matchup in the November general election, according to a newly released poll conducted for the Star-Telegram and other major Texas newspapers.

Some days it is hard to be a neophyte far-right candidate in a governor's race, even in Texas, where Republicans vying for the party's nomination try to outdo one another to prove their conservative credentials.

In what is arguably the buckle on the Conservative Belt of Texas, Republican challenger Ben Bius' message is clear: Veteran state Sen. Steve Ogden isn't conservative enough.