The Midday Brief: July 27, 2011

Your afternoon reading:

• "Rick Perry discussed a potential presidential campaign for an hour in Austin today with about a dozen top Republicans from Tennessee and Georgia, a Tennessee Republican who attended the meeting told POLITICO." — Rick Perry meets with Tennessee and Georgia Republicans, continuing SEC tour, Politico

• "New Hampshire Journal has learned that Sean Mahoney, former Republican National Committeeman, and Paul Young, former Executive Director and Treasurer of the New Hampshire GOP, are putting together of group of key New Hampshire activists to visit with Texas Governor Rick Perry in Austin next week." — Key NH Republicans Going to Austin to Talk with Perry, NH Journal

• "If Texas Gov. Rick Perry decides to run for president — a safe bet according to many Republicans — he is likely to bypass the traditional step of forming an exploratory committee and jump head-first into the GOP primary fight." — Exploratory committee not likely for Perry, CNN
  

• "While taking pains to emphasize that he is not prepared to endorse a presidential candidate, a leader of one of the nation's largest and most prominent Tea Party groups on Wednesday harshly criticized former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and went out of his way to lavish praise upon Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is expected to enter the race next month." — Tea Party Leader Blasts Romney, Praises Perry, RealClearPolitics

• "Conventional wisdom holds that tea party activists would embrace Texas Gov. Rick Perry if he runs for president. Maybe." — For tea party, Perry could be a game changer, or not, Trail Blazers

• "Gov. Rick Scott has begun discreetly promoting the same changes to the higher education system that Texas Gov. Rick Perry has championed. The proposals include some of the same reforms pushed by conservatives in K-12 schools: merit pay for professors, tenure reform, and generally a much greater emphasis on measurement of whether professors are turning out students that meet certain goals." — Scott Promotes Controversial Education Reforms, News Service of Florida

• "Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, made an impassioned plea for military families Tuesday, asking the Senate to pass a new piece of legislation mandating that members of the military continue receiving their paychecks even if Washington cannot agree to raise the debt ceiling before next week." — Kay Bailey Hutchison asks Congress to pay military even if default happens, Texas on the Potomac

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "Gov. Rick Perry, as the leader of the state Republican Party, has maneuvered through a conflict between GOP factions with mixed results. Whatever his place in the party and his political future, the problem is built into the coalition of interests in the Texas GOP." — Guest Column: Immigration, Perry and a Divided GOP