The Midday Brief: Sept. 19, 2011

Your afternoon reading:

• "Texas Gov. Rick Perry leads former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, in what is becoming a battle between the candidate who excites more Republicans and the one who shows stronger appeal among GOP-leaning independents. The survey, taken Thursday through Sunday, charts a GOP field that seems headed toward a showdown between Perry, with 31% backing, and Romney, at 24%." — Poll: Perry, Romney draw support from distinct groups, USA Today

• "With a Palestinian push for statehood at the U.N. as a backdrop, Rick Perry will apparently take part in a Manhattan rally against the measure on Tuesday during his trip to New York City." — Rick Perry to rally against Palestinian statehood, Politico

• "It's fitting that Texas' jobless rate is now on par with where it was in 1987 — a year when another big state governor set out to run for president while touting the economic "miracle" his policies had supposedly produced. That was Michael Dukakis, whose 1988 Democratic candidacy was rooted in a belief that the swing voters who'd abandoned the party in the previous two presidential elections would see in Dukakis' 'Massachusetts Miracle' a reason to trust Democrats on the economy again." — Rick Perry and the Dukakis trap, Salon

• "A pharmacists' advocacy group said Monday that Texas' request to put many, many more Medicaid recipients into privately run managed care plans, such as health maintenance organizations, 'will devastate pharmacies in the state.'" — Pharmacies blast Texas' push for more Medicaid managed care, Trail Blazers

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "Tea Party activists are promising to hold Rick Perry's feet to fire over illegal immigration. A group of them will stage a news conference at the Texas Capitol Monday urging the governor to enact a ban on so-called 'sanctuary cities.'" — Tea Party Presses Perry on Immigration