The Midday Brief: Oct. 10, 2011

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign has produced an online attack ad aimed at Mitt Romney, accusing him of providing a blueprint for President Barack Obama's federal health care reform plan with the program Romney signed into law as governor of Massachusetts." — Video: New Perry Attack Ad Challenges "Romneycare" 

• "A student organization at Gov. Rick Perry’s alma mater, Texas A&M, has started a petition requesting that the governor immediately call a special legislative session to end in-state tuition for illegal immigrants." — A&M Student Group Rebukes Perry on In-State Tuition Issue

• "The redrawing of political district lines — which ideally happens just once a decade after a federal census — could create a series of crazy election cycles for Texas voters and candidates. It happened in the 1990s, and it could happen again now." — Will Redistricting Court Battles Create Electoral Confusion?

Your afternoon reading:

• "The second poll in a few days shows Herman Cain jumping into second place in New Hampshire. A survey from the Harvard Institute of Politics and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics shows Cain with 20 percent of the vote, trailing Mitt Romney, who remains in first place with 38 percent. Ron Paul is in third place with 13 percent. The poll comes on the heels of a WMUR/UNH poll that put Romney at 37 percent, Cain at 12 percent and Paul at 9 percent. Both polls had Rick Perry languishing with just 4 percent of the vote." — Herman Cain's New Hampshire surge found in second poll, Politico

• "Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign takes on all three of the GOP’s leading candidates in a new radio ad set to run in Iowa. The former Pennsylvania senator’s ad, which was produced by top GOP ad firm BrabenderCox and obtained in advance by The Fix, hits Mitt Romney for 'his government-run Romneycare,' says Rick Perry is 'dead wrong' on giving in-state tuition to the children of illegal immigrants, and accuses Herman Cain of 'strongly' supporting 'the Wall Street bailouts.'" — Santorum targets Romney, Perry and Cain with new ad, The Washington Post

• "This is vintage Perry. He always seeks to be the aggressor. But I wonder if this is a good decision by the Perry camp. To be running a negative ad about a primary opponent at this stage of the game–at least three months before the first primary voter casts a ballot–looks more like desperation than a well reasoned gambit. A negative ad is only effective if the candidate airing the ad has a positive image. The Perry campaign is launching this ad at a time when Perry has been in decline in most polls. I don’t think it’s going to help him." — The Perry ad campaign: sign of strength? or sign of weakness?, BurkaBlog