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• That Didn't Take Long

  By Ross Ramsey March 22, 2010

  The first political ads bought by a corporation in Texas appeared in East Texas newspapers just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively ended the state's ban on that kind of spending. Full Story 

• TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

  By Ross Ramsey March 20, 2010

  Grissom on the 1.2 million Texans who've lost their licenses under the Driver Responsibility Act and the impenetrable black box that is the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Ramshaw and Kraft on nurses with substance abuse problems and rehabilitation that can get them back to work, M. Smith finds it's not easy being Rick Green, Stiles on counting Texans (and everybody else), Rapoport on the State Board of Education's war with itself and the runoff in SBOE District 10, Thevenot's revealing interview with a big-city superintendent on closing bad schools, Aguilar on the tensions over water on the Texas-Mexico border, Hamilton on the new Coffee Party, Hu on Kesha Rogers and why her party doesn't want her, Philpott on the runoff in HD-47, Ramsey on Bill White and the politics of taxes, and E. Smith's conversation with Game Change authors Mark Halperin and John Heleimann: The best of our best from March 15 to 19. Full Story 

• 2010: May Specials

  By Ross Ramsey March 17, 2010

  Voters in South Dallas and Central Texas will have special elections on May 8 to pick new legislators. Gov. Rick Perry called those to replace Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, in HD-100, and Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, in SD-22. Full Story 

• 2010: Officially, Sibley's In

  By Ross Ramsey March 17, 2010

  Former Sen. David Sibley, R-Waco, wants his old job back. The senator-turned-lobbyist has been hinting for a couple of weeks and now says he'll be a candidate for his former seat now that Kip Averitt is resigning. Full Story 

• Read My Lapse

  By Ross Ramsey March 15, 2010

  "You have to do a few things when you run for office in Texas," says one of Rick Perry's allies. "You have to debate. You have to release your tax returns. And you have to say you won't raise taxes." Bill White will surely debate the governor before November's general election, but at the moment he hasn't done the other two. The former probably won't sink him, but the latter could — by declining to drink the no-new-taxes potion, he's handing his opponent a weapon to use against him. Unless, of course, he's successful at changing the way the argument goes. Full Story 

• Same as It Ever Was

  By Ross Ramsey March 15, 2010

  Twenty years ago, Clayton Williams Jr. demonstrated the difference between someone trained in business and someone trained in politics. Talking to a small group of reporters about a looming budget shortfall and the hefty price tags on programs he wanted to start, he was asked what remedies he'd be willing to consider. Full Story 

• TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

  By Ross Ramsey March 13, 2010

  Thevenot on the non-stop wonder that is the State Board of Education and its latest efforts to set curriculum standards, E. Smith's post-election sit-down interview with Bill White at TribLive made some news and got the November pugilism started, Ramshaw on whether it makes sense for the state to call patients and remind them to take their pills, and on the state's botched attempt to save baby blood samples for medical research, Hamilton's interview with Steve Murdock on the state's demographic destiny, M. Smith on whooping cranes, fresh water, and an effort to use the endangered species act to protect them both, Grissom on potties, pickups, and other equipment purchased with federal homeland security money and Stiles' latest data and map on where that money went, Aguilar on the "voluntary fasting" protesting conditions and treatment at an immigrant detention facility, Kreighbaum on football, the new sport at UTSA, and Philpott on Rick Perry and Bill White retooling their appeals for the general election. The best of our best from March 8 to 12, 2010. Full Story 

• 2010: Yancy Isn't Done

  By Ross Ramsey March 10, 2010

  Darren Yancy, who came in second in a Senate race against a guy who doesn't want the job, says he'll be a candidate in the special election for the Waco seat held by Kip Averitt. Full Story 

• The Amazing Races

  By Ross Ramsey March 10, 2010

  Political eyes are already focused on November and the eleven congressional and legislative targets that everyone will be talking about. Full Story 

• 2010: White Starts the Argument [Updated]

  By Ross Ramsey March 9, 2010

  Democrat Bill White said he won't rely on "Soviet-style budgeting" and "hot air politics" if he's elected governor, and said the state should make education its first priority and would be better off with a governor who's got business experience when it comes to economic development. Full Story