The Midday Brief: Sept. 21, 2011

Your afternoon reading:

• "In response to the Romney camp’s 'Governor Sub-Zero' diss of Rick Perry’s jobs record earlier today, the Perry campaign has blasted out an e-mail headlined, 'Rick Perry’s Texas added more private-sector jobs in two months than Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts in four years.'" — Perry Campaign Strikes Back, National Review

• "It might be hard to imagine after last week’s GOP presidential slugfest, but there was a time not too long ago when a group headed by Mitt Romney quietly—and a judge says illegally—helped Rick Perry’s political career in Texas and set the stage for his new nemesis to rise on the national stage." — Mitt and Rick’s Secret Donor Deal, The Daily Beast

• "An independent campaign group supporting presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is taking its message to Iowa TV. … The add zaps Perry, the governor of Texas, for his executive order requiring girls in the state to receive a vaccine against the human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cancer." — Pro-Michele Bachmann super-PAC to air anti-Rick Perry commercial in Iowa, Des Moines Register

• "The Republican race for president is a two-man tie in Florida, but voters think that Mitt Romney has a slightly better chance of becoming president. Romney and Rick Perry are virtually dead even, garnering 25 percent each of the Republican vote, with Newt Gingrich a distant third at 9 percent, according to the survey by War Room Logistics, a Gainesville firm that polls and consults for Republicans." — Fla poll: Rick Perry 25%, Mitt Romney 25%, St. Petersburg Times

• "State Sen. Steve Ogden, though stepping down from the Senate in January 2013, isn't fazed by a party-whipping effort by some conservative activists to make sure that any intramural selection of a new lieutenant governor passes ideological muster." — Ogden weighs in on how Senate might pick next lieutenant governor, Trail Blazers

• "State Board of Education member Marsha Farney, R-Georgetown, will enter the House District 20 race that is open now that state Rep. Charles Schwertner is running for the Texas Senate." — Bd. of Education member Farney will run for House, Postcards

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "He’s still the front-runner, but Gov. Rick Perry has entered a crucial and more competitive phase of the 2012 Republican presidential contest, ratcheting up pressure on him ahead of a televised debate this week in Orlando, his third. Perry needs a 'steady performance, fewer gaffes and to keep his Texas-sized feet out of his mouth,' one political observer says." — Facing a Key Debate — and a Tougher Race

• "In second place in GOP presidential polls, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is not taking his foot off the gas, slamming front-runner Rick Perry almost daily on the Texas governor's past statements on Social Security. In the last nine days, Romney's campaign has issued no fewer than seven press releases on Perry's stance on Social Security." — Romney Unrelenting on Perry's Social Security Talk