The Brief: Aug. 30, 2012

The Big Conversation:

Gov. Rick Perry may have his eye on 2014 and beyond, but if Texans at the Republican National Convention are any indication, he might have trouble drumming up support.

Though Perry wasn't invited to address the full convention, he's been making the rounds in Tampa this week, leading the Texas delegation, stumping for Mitt Romney and dropping not-so-subtle hints about his political future.

"Absolutely," Perry told NBC on Tuesday when asked whether he would consider running for president again in 2016. "I'll be back, God willing," he told a convention attendee who said she'd seen him campaigning in New Hampshire. And as he told The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday when asked whether he'd run for governor again in 2014: "I’ve told folks that unless the good Lord’s got a different plan for me, it’s most likely, but the good news is I don’t have to make that decision right now and I’m focused on the next 70 days and making sure we elect Mitt Romney the president of the United States."

In fact, Perry's remarks have stirred speculation about just how deliberately he has intended to stray from message while in Florida.

But as the Tribune's Jay Root reports, while Texas GOP activists in Tampa this week may still consider themselves Perry fans, many say they're ready to see a new face in the Governor's Mansion.

"I think it’s time for them to move on," Dan Pickens, a Dallas delegate and former member of the State Republican Executive Committee, said of three-term Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewurst, who this week announced that he'd seek re-election in 2014. 

Whether the party activists' Perry fatigue signals a broader desire statewide for new blood is unclear. As for Perry, he'll have another chance to win over some of those activists when he addresses the Texas delegation today.

Culled:

• A day after a federal court in Washington, D.C., struck down Texas' redistricting maps, Democratic and minority groups mounted a challenge to the state's interim maps. According to the San Antonio Express-News, groups on Wednesday filed a request for a preliminary federal hearing on the interim maps, which were drawn last year based on the original maps that the federal court struck down on Tuesday. "Over 90 percent of the map is the legislative map that has been found to be illegal," said Luis Vera of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "You can't have an election with an illegal map." 
• On Tuesday, Texas' delegation at the GOP convention heard from several prominent Republicans, including Rick Santorum and George P. Bush. Bush, who will serve as the Texas Republican Party's new deputy finance chairman, dropped no hints about his rumored political aspirations in Texas, instead focusing his comments on Hispanic outreach. "We’re rolling up our sleeves and doing the dirty work in Hispanic outreach and we’re going to be collaborating with the Republican Party helping to identify, recruit and support qualified candidates to go run for office," he said at a delegation meeting. Comptroller Susan Combs and Attorney General Greg Abbott also addressed the Texas delegates. House Speaker Joe Straus made the rounds, too.

"It really is a message that would resonate well if they could just get past some of their biases that have been there from the Democratic machines that have made us look like we don’t care about this community." — Ann Romney on Hispanic voters

Must-Read:

• A Republican Platform Line Friendly to Immigrants, The New York Times
• California Is Suddenly Adding Jobs Faster Than Texas—Why?, The Atlantic
• Bexar GOP delegates overcome crash to reach convention, San Antonio Express-News
• Donkey kills Texas mayor on ranch, The Associated Press