The Midday Brief: Oct. 12, 2011

Your afternoon reading:

• "There have been almost no television commercials during 2011, but that will change soon. Mr. Perry appears to be pursuing a strategy of getting through the debates with as little political damage as possible so he can survive into the next phase of the campaign." — Perry, Seeming to Fade in Debate, Likely to Turn to Ads, The New York Times

• "Tony Perkins, host of the Value Voters Summit at which a Dallas pastor who backs Rick Perry called Mormonism a cult and asserted that front-runner Mitt Romney is not a Christian, said Wednesday morning that Perry has done all he needs to do to make things right over the incident." — Mormon "cult" flap: Perkins says Perry has said enough, Trail Blazers

• "Perry’s behavior reminded me of his debate with Kay Bailey Hutchison and Debra Medina, back in 2010: He made it clear that he didn’t want to be there. He had no energy, no spark, and virtually no presence. His distaste for the process of debating was obvious. He recycled his conservative boilerplate about states being the laboratories of innovation; his answer to what Texas has done about health care was tort reform. Most of the time he just punted when he could have jumped into the conversation. Yawn." — A listless Rick Perry has little to say, BurkaBlog

• "When word came that Texas Gov. Rick Perry had raised $17 million, pundits insisted that he had gotten new life. I didn’t buy it, and last night showed exactly why." — Jennifer Rubin: Money is not enough to save Perry, The Washington Post

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "Congress — including much of the Texas delegation — is poised to approve three trade agreements as soon as today that could boost the state’s exports." — Trade Deals Could Boost Texas Exports

• "The outspoken head of the state's fourth-largest school district— newly crowned as superintendent of the year — on school finance lawsuits, the impact of cuts to public education funding and the upcoming transition to end-of-course exams." — John Folks: The TT Interview