What's it like to be a person who wages a no-win campaign but, by taking votes away, dooms the chances of one or more of the other candidates in the race? Mark White knows. Kinky Friedman knows. Debra Medina could soon find out. Full Story
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Thanks to sites like Facebook and Twitter, we know the elected officials who represent us better than ever — sometimes in weirdly intimate ways. You can find out that Dan Patrick had to put his dog down, that Wayne Christian is a fan of real estate wunderkind and reality TV star Chad Rogers, and that Bill White just finished listening to a book on tape. But woe to the pol who hasn't updated her status in a year. Full Story
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Rick Perry's Blogger Summit featured big-name speakers, social media strategizing and a chance to shoot guns with the Governor. What it didn't feature: much talk about Texas. Full Story
Early voting in the Republican and Democratic primaries starts in three weeks, and the election is in five. While there are nearly 200 legislative races on the ballot, only a few are real contests. Here are the ones worth watching — as of now. Full Story
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The reality is that no matter how many new dams and wastewater treatment projects we build in Texas, the essential components of our hydrologic system are our watersheds and recharge zones. If we lose their vital functions, we won’t be able to build enough water infrastructure to meet our needs. Full Story
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The U.S. Supreme Court freed corporations and unions from a century-old ban on political spending Thursday, ruling that restrictions on their electioneering expenditures violate their First Amendment Rights. Full Story
Bill Flores, one of five Republicans who wants a crack at U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards in November, has hired infamous ex-Kay Bailey Hutchison spokesman Matt Mackowiak to run his campaign. Full Story
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The former Commerce Secretary, GOP megafundraiser, and Bush 41 pal was 82. Full Story
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The governor's race candidates fill their campaign coffers disproportionately from some rural areas, according to a per-capita calculation. Each Dallas resident gave $1 to the race in 2009, for example, while those in Blanco donated $57. Full Story
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More than a week after they surfaced in the Republican gubernatorial primary debate, the politics of abortion are again heating up. Full Story
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... against Washington, of course, and the less-than-resolute wing of his party: An interview with the Texas Railroad Commissioner, who'd like very much, thank you, to be the next Marco Rubio. Full Story
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Hu explores on the schism between Bushworld and Perrywold and the increasingly curious question of what Debra Medina wants; Stiles goes all Shark Week on gubernatorial campaign finance, with searchable databases, bubble maps and word clouds; M. Smith on what happens if there's a GOP runoff; Rapoport on the sniping between Perry and KBH on transparency; Hamilton on KBH's abortion issue odyssey; Ramshaw exposes the disgracefully low percentage of state school employees who abuse or kill profoundly disabled Texans and are then prosecuted for their acts; Thevenot on higher ed's tuition time bomb; Aguilar on the Latino pay gap; Ramsey on Farouk Shami's "gift" to Hank Gilbert; Ramsey and Philpott on the the Supreme's Court's corporate campaign cash fallout; and E. Smith's interviews with House Speaker Joe Straus with retiring Republican state representative — and future Texas State chancellor? — Brian McCall. The best of our best from January 18 to 22, 2010. Full Story
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Your afternoon reading: Full Story
A new study gives a window into the wide variety of ways college presidents get paid. Think houses, cars, deferred comp — and private monies supplementing public funds. Full Story
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How will Thursday's shooting change security guidelines at the Capitol? Full Story
A review of campaign finance reports for the period from July to December 2009 reveals that some candidates for the Texas House are capable of raising serious money. Full Story
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When George H.W. Bush becomes the latest denizen of Bushworld to endorse Kay Bailey Hutchison at an event at his West Houston home this morning — following on the heels of KBH supporters James Baker, Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, and Margaret Spellings — it will be impossible to pretend any longer that there isn't a Bush-versus-Perry narrative at play in the 2010 governor's race. But what's really going on here? Full Story
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The U.S. Supreme Court freed corporations and unions from a century-old ban on political spending Thursday, ruling that restrictions on their electioneering expenditures violate their First Amendment Rights. Ramsey explains what the ruling says; Philpott, covering politics for KUT News and the Tribune, reports on how it will affect a state like Texas, which has long had a corporate cash ban in effect. Full Story
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What will those original thinkers at the Post-Dispatch think of next? Full Story
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Your afternoon reading. Full Story