The Evening Brief: Oct. 1, 2012

New in The Texas Tribune:

•   Perry Calls for Upfront Price Tags at Universities: "Gov. Rick Perry laid out his higher education initiatives at a press conference in Dallas on Monday. As expected, he emphasized his desire to see universities keep tuition at a set price for a student's first four years of college, as well as calling for institutions to tell students how much their degrees will cost if they graduate in four, five or six years."

•   Canseco's New Ad Challenges Obama on Energy: "In his newest commercial, U.S. Rep. Francisco Canseco, R-San Antonio, skips any mention of his actual election opponent — Democrat Pete Gallego of Alpine — and goes after the Obama administration on energy policy."

•   Report: DREAM Act Could Mean Billions for Texas Economy: "Texas would see an additional $66 billion in economic impact and 282,500 additional jobs by the year 2030 if the U.S. Congress passed the DREAM Act, according to a study released Monday."

Culled:

•   CWA's Spanish Ad Blasts Canseco (National Journal): "Communications Workers of America is getting bilingual with a new Spanish-language ad blasting Rep. Quico Canseco, who is in a tight reelection bid in Texas. … The ad is running for 14 days on Spanish-language broadcasts in San Antonio. CWA wouldn't disclose the amount of the ad buy. The spot features San Antonio-area CWA members. The narrator says in Spanish: 'When we vote, it should be for someone who understands our values,' and then goes on to depict Canseco as having voted for 'tax cuts for millionaires ... to make it harder for our children to go to college [and] .. to end Medicare.'"

•   TX23: New Canseco-backed poll paints a different picture (The Dallas Morning News): "New polling data released by Rep. Francisco 'Quico' Canseco’s campaign shows the freshman congressman with a 10-point lead on his Democratic challenger, Pete Gallego. The new poll is radically different from the one released by Gallego’s campaign last month. That poll, conducted by the Democratic-leaning League of Conservation Voters, had Gallego with a five-point lead."

•   Perot's economic stance resonates 20 years later (USA Today): "He's still avoiding one thing: an endorsement in this year's campaign. Though members of his family have donated almost exclusively to Republicans in recent years, Perot is an equal-opportunity critic, unimpressed with both Obama and Romney when it comes to addressing the nation's red ink."

•   PAC wants state approval for text donations (Campaigns & Elections): "A Houston-based PAC is asking the Texas Ethics Commission to approve a proposal that would allow the committee to solicit text message contributions from donors in the state."