West Virginia primary voters delivered a shocking result on Tuesday, voting in large numbers for an inmate serving a 17-year sentence in Texarkana. It's perhaps the convict's most successful run, but hardly his first.

On April 30, which was 30 days ahead of Texas' May 29 primaries, participating candidates were required to file reports that represent all campaign-finance efforts leading up to the election. We have pulled all contribution data for filers between Jan. 1 and April 30 and made it searchable here. 

At a Tea Party-organized rally at the Capitol, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul said the presidential nomination isn't sewn up yet. And U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz reminded the crowd of his abiding conservatism.

Ted Nugent unplugged: The rocker and Second Amendment defender weighs in on everything from Mitt Romney and the Trayvon Martin case to his theory that President Obama was raised by Communists. Viewer discretion advised. 

This week in The New York Times and at texastribune.org, Jay Root talks with rock-and-roll star and Second Amendment advocate Ted Nugent.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul made a couple of campaign stops in Austin on Thursday. After an afternoon fundraiser, he met with supporters on the University of Texas campus. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports.

Hours after Newt Gingrich announced he would be ending his presidential campaign next week, Gov. Rick Perry threw his support behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Texas "bundlers" have raised at least $5.7 million for President Obama's re-election effort, according to the list released by the campaign. And 13 new bundlers joined during the first quarter of this year, including nine from Houston.

What might have been a big turnout year has turned into a ho-hum affair, with the presidential race petering out before the Texas primary.

Aaronson maps Medicaid patients' access to pharmacies, Aguilar on Mexicans in exile, Batheja on an unlikely threat to a veteran lawmaker's re-election, Galbraith and Murphy interactively track reservoir levels around the state, Grissom on the ringleaders who rule the state's largest youth lockup, Hamilton on how much Texas professors are paid, Ramsey on who's conservative, Ramshaw and Tan on the latest Planned Parenthood kerfuffle, Root on what Santorum's exit means for the Texas primary, and parts 4 (by M. Smith) and 5 (by Tan and Dehn) of our series on school district closures: The best of our best content from April 9-13, 2012.

The veteran congressman may not have a real shot at becoming the GOP's presidential nominee, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have something to gain by taking a tour of his home state.

Rick Santorum’s withdrawal from the 2012 presidential contest makes Texas Republicans, once again, all but irrelevant in their party’s nomination process.

The first two parts of M. Smith's series on failing school districts (plus Murphy and Seger's interactive on how districts' characteristics relate to ratings), Root on lagging GOP candidates for president trying to shore things up in Texas, Ramshaw on a "fiscal switcheroo" to get federal money for women's health programs, Galbraith talks to a West Texas farmer about crop insurance and climate change and Aguilar on the money behind a lawsuit on long rifle sales: The best of our best content from April 2 to 6, 2012.

At our Hot Seat conversation at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, state Reps. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, and Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, and state Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, discussed cuts to public and higher education and other by-products of the 82nd Session.

Supporters of Rick Santorum want to change the rules for the state's presidential primary so the winner gets all the delegates that are up for grabs. But they face major hurdles.

Rick Santorum and Ron Paul are treating the upcoming Texas primaries and caucuses as if their political lives depend on it. They're working to round up delegates before the voting begins.

For this week's nonscientific survey of the state's political and government insiders, we asked about their current assessment of the presidential race, federal health care, prosecutor accountability, and whether the governor could wind up on the national ticket.