The Evening Brief: May 23, 2012

Culled:

• Romney to get Rick Perry blessing in joint call with Perry donors (The Dallas Morning News): "Texas Gov. Rick Perry, stepping up efforts to help the GOP nominee, will join Mitt Romney on a call Thursday morning with his own top donors in Texas and around the country. 'The purpose of the call — and both Romney and Perry will be on — is to reinforce Gov. Perry's strong support for Mitt Romney and the Republican ticket this fall,' said Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan, 'and to encourage and motivate our supporters, particularly our financial supporters in this case, to help the Republican campaign, the RNC and other Republican efforts.'"

• GOP discovers that Mitt Romney could win (Politico): "Top Republicans, long privately skeptical about their presidential prospects, are coming around to a surprising new view — that Mitt Romney may well win the White House this November. … Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said: 'I wouldn’t have thought it would be this close, basically a tie.'"

• Cruz loans $400,000 to Senate campaign (Austin American-Statesman): "Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz loaned his campaign $400,000 on Friday, according to a newly posted Federal Elections Commission document.  The infusion from Cruz came at the same time the campaign reported in a news release that it had raised more than Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst during the latest reporting period, which spanned from April 1 to May 9. The campaign later clarified to the Dallas Morning News that the $6.1 million total it announced included money that came in long after the May 9 reporting deadline."

• Dewhurst touts his business know-how in new TV spot (The Dallas Morning News): "Republican Senate front-runner David Dewhurst, in a new ad, is back to banging on President Barack Obama and promoting his own experience and skill set. The 30-second spot, 'Lifelong Businessman,' features Dewhurst speaking to camera. 'You know, we just don't have enough people in Congress that are longtime business people that are still in business,' the three-term lieutenant governor says. A female announcer then intones, 'But David Dewhurst is a lifelong businessman. Dewhurst built his own energy company from the ground up, met a payroll, created jobs.' Dewhurst says he'll 'take that to Washington' and help change the nation's policy direction."

New in The Texas Tribune:

• Two SBOE Rivals Each Facing Tough Primaries: "State Board of Education members David Bradley and Thomas Ratliff — who are often at odds with each other — are entangled in two of the board’s most closely watched primary races. Their primary challenges could result in a power shift on the fractious board."

• Republicans Face Off in Collin, Denton Counties: "Republicans are expected to win easy victories in several Collin and Denton county legislative races. But that hasn't stopped the candidates from duking it out over who has the most conservative credentials. Here are five races to watch."
  

• 4 Democrats Vying to Replace Hochberg in HD-137: "In southwest Houston, four Democratic hopefuls are running for the HD-137 seat held for 20 years by Rep. Scott Hochberg. The candidates include two former Capitol staffers, a prosecutor and a school board member."