The Evening Brief: July 2, 2012

Culled:

• Texas tops nation in ad spending by candidates (Houston Chronicle): "Texas tops the nation in political candidate advertising this year by a wide margin, spurred by the expensive and contentious race for U.S. Senate. Three of the nation’s top five spenders on campaign ads are from Texas. … The Texas Senate race has generated more than $12 million in radio and TV ads — or nearly one-fifth of the $69 million spent nationally on candidate advertising, according to a new analysis by the Sunlight Reporting Group of Federal Election Commission filings."

• Newly Elected Mexican Leader Pledges Transparency (The New York Times): "Mexico’s president-elect, Enrique Peña Nieto, began the transition to power on Monday, declaring that he would begin to name members of his cabinet in the next few days, and pledging to lead an efficient, transparent administration focused on defeating organized crime and improving the economy."

• President Obama congratulates president-elect of Mexico (Houston Chronicle): "President Barack Obama telephoned the president-elect of Mexico today to extend congratulations amid a change in power south of the border that has stirred concern among some U.S. officials."

• Rep. Michael Burgess endorses Senate candidate Ted Cruz in GOP runoff (The Dallas Morning News): "Rep. Michael Burgess endorsed Senate candidate Ted Cruz Monday morning in the Republican runoff — an unusual move, given that most members of Texas’ GOP congressional delegation have stayed neutral in the heavyweight battle."

• Mexico Election: How Enrique Peña Nieto Won Himself and His Party the Presidency (Time): "Mexico's President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto took up the centrist mantle of his Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) — which once stood for little more than amassing power (and keeping it for over seven decades) — and outflanked rival liberals and conservatives."

New in The Texas Tribune:

• Interactive Map: Texas House Committee Clout: Use this interactive to explore the geographic distribution of committee members in the Texas House, by committee, to see who's got what clout on what subject. Choose a committee and the map highlights the district of each member and, in a different color, the home districts of the chairs, vice chairs and co-chairs.

• After Deal With State, Amazon Charging Sales Tax in Texas: "On Sunday, Texas became the sixth state in the country to charge sales tax on items sold by the online megaretailer Amazon. The switch comes after a deal was struck earlier this year in response to the state's claims that Amazon owed millions of dollars in uncollected sales tax."

• T-Squared: Our Six-Month Stats: "I'm pleased to report that the Trib's first-half-of-the-year traffic and fundraising numbers are significantly ahead of where they were in 2011."