The Midday Brief: Jan. 31, 2012

Your afternoon reading:

• "Presidential hopefuls Ron Paul and Rick Santorum make campaign stops along the Front Range today — one week before the Colorado Republican Party holds its Feb. 7 caucuses." — Ron Paul, Rick Santorum campaign in Colorado for GOP presidential bid today, The Denver Post

• "Attorneys for the Justice Department and state of Texas began wrapping up their cases Tuesday in a trial over whether new electoral maps crafted by Texas' Republican-dominated Legislature violate the Voting Rights Act." — Closing arguments made in Texas redistricting case, The Associated Press

• "Rick Perry touted his former GOP rival Newt Gingrich as someone who can 'operate in that shark tank of Washington, D.C.' in his first interview since dropping out of the presidential race two weeks ago. 'Newt's got the ability to not just operate in the shark tank but kill the shark,' Perry said on WTSP-TV in Tampa, Fla. 'What a lot of Americans, what a lot of Floridians want is someone who will actually go into Washington, kill the shark and let Americans swim freely again in that pond of American economics.'" — Perry on Gingrich: He can 'operate in that shark tank of Washington, D.C.', The Dallas Morning News

• "Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Tuesday there is still a path to the Republican nomination for his father, Rep. Ron Paul, but 'he's got to start winning some primaries.' The elder Paul appears likely to come in last in Tuesday's Florida primary and trails badly in current delegate counts. But in an interview in his Senate office, Rand Paul, the Tea Party rock star who has been out campaigning for his father, said it's too early to count him out." — Rand Paul: Ron Paul Needs a Win, The Atlantic
  

• "Mitt Romney and Ron Paul may be running in the same race, but they’re different animals. While Romney was holding rallies across Florida in the run up to Tuesday’s primary, Paul’s camp was busy in less conspicuous places such as Maine and Nevada, where voters will head to the polls on Feb. 4, looking to strategically pick up delegates in his slow, steady effort to win a prominent role at the August convention. Their divergent strategies underscore the distance between their campaigns in style, aim and support." — Mitt Romney and Ron Paul: A Tale of Two Very Different Candidates, Time

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "The Travis County district attorney's office is considering a review of the 1985 murder of Natalie Antonetti. In 2011, Dennis Davis was sentenced to 36 years for killing his ex-girlfriend. But the manner in which Antonetti was killed is eerily similar to two other murders where investigators identified the DNA of Mark Norwood." — Travis County Considers Review of Murder Case

• "American Medical Association President Peter Carmel and Texas Medical Association President Bruce Malone on the Medicare cuts that physicians face, Texas' legal challenge to federal health reform and efforts to slash funding for Planned Parenthood." — Peter Carmel and Bruce Malone: The TT Interview