The Evening Brief: Feb. 16, 2012

New in The Texas Tribune:

• Perry's Out, but National Campaign Could Live On: "Rick Perry’s presidential campaign is trying to remain a player in national politics even though the candidate dropped out of the race nearly a month ago. In a letter to the Federal Election Commission, Perry's campaign treasurer is asking for permission to use certain donated funds to create a new PAC, possibly even a Super PAC."

• Fort Worth Judge Will Preside Over Ken Anderson Court of Inquiry: "Tarrant County state district Judge Louis Sturns will lead a court of inquiry to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct against former prosecutor Ken Anderson in the wrongful murder conviction of Michael Morton."

• Interactive: The Age Divide of Texas Cities: Use this interactive to check out the breakdown of the population by age group across Texas cities using updated information from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Culled:

• Hutchison lauds Romney: he's stood "test after test," has experience she's looking for (The Dallas Morning News): "Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison all but endorsed Mitt Romney today, telling MSNBC that Romney has the experience needed in the White House — though she said she isn't technically, formally endorsing him at the moment. 'I do think that Mitt Romney has stood up to test after test after test, and I think he's had the experience that I would hope that a president would have,' she told Chuck Todd on the Daily Rundown. She said she enjoyed working with Rick Santorum when he was in the Senate, too, and 'I think they're both good people.' But her inclination toward Romney came through."

• CNN Cancels Georgia Debate After Mitt Romney, Ron Paul Balk (Reuters): "CNN has canceled its Georgia debate set for March 1 after Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, two of the four remaining GOP presidential candidates, said they would not participate. 'Without full participation of all four candidates, CNN will not move forward with the Super Tuesday debate,' CNN said in a statement."

• Cruz disputes Politifact’s “Pants on Fire” rating (Houston Chronicle): "U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz has found himself in a tug-of-war with the Austin American-Statesman’s edition of Politifact after the fact-checking project handed Cruz a 'Pants on Fire' rating for a claim Cruz made accusing Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst of supporting a state income tax."