The Midday Brief: Nov. 17, 2011

Your afternoon reading:

• "Will Nancy Pelosi debate Rick Perry anytime soon? Don’t count on it. The House minority leader had a quip at the ready when she was asked at her weekly press briefing Thursday about the Texas governor’s letter challenging her to a 'public debate' next Monday. 'Well, he did ask if I could debate here in Washington on Monday. It is my understanding that the letter has come in,' Pelosi said. 'Monday, I’m going to be in Portland in the morning. I’m going to be visiting some of our labs in California in the afternoon. That’s two. I can’t remember what the third thing is.'" — Pelosi mocks Perry’s debate request, The Washington Post

• "For Ron Paul, maybe two polls makes a trend in Iowa. Twice this week, a survey shows Paul on the rise and in second place among likely Iowa caucusgoers, finishing within the margin of error with poll leader Herman Cain." — Poll: Paul support growing in Iowa, Politico

• "Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday night said President Barack Obama 'grew up in a privileged way' and that America's foreign policy reputation has suffered because of the president's 'mentality that he's the smartest guy in the room.'" — Perry says Obama 'grew up in a privileged way,' NBC News

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "The U.S. Department of Justice informed the Texas Secretary of State’s office it has yet to provide the federal government sufficient information about the contentious voter ID law, which could possibly affect the bill's scheduled implentation date of Jan. 1." — DOJ Tells Texas It Still Needs More Data on Voter ID
  

• "Texans who gave big money to Kay Bailey Hutchison to try to unseat Rick Perry for governor in 2010 haven’t gelled around a single candidate in the presidential race. In fact, the majority of them seem to still be sitting on the sidelines." — Big KBH Backers Haven't Settled on a Presidential Candidate

• "At this morning's TribLive conversation, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst answered critics who question whether he's conservative enough to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate." — TribLive: I'm Conservative Enough, Dewhurst Says

• "The Texas branch of the American Federation of Teachers has released the results of a web survey that reports extensive teacher layoffs, increasing class sizes, and deteriorating work conditions following state budget cuts." — Survey: Teachers Say Working Conditions, Class Sizes Getting Worse