The battle in the 2010 governor’s race is about the battleground itself: Rick Perry wants to bind himself to voters in opposition to an intrusive and profligate Washington D.C. — meddling liberal Yankees, in other words. Bill White wants to motivate voters in opposition to what he portrays as the sorry condition of the state under Perry, the self-serving “career politician.” For White, Washington is Perry’s bogeyman to divert attention from his failures at home. For Perry, Washington is the root of the evils the state confronts — foremost, issues he says White ignores.
Washington Weak
2010: San Antonio Express-News Endorses White
Joining the big-city papers in Austin, Dallas and Houston, the San Antonio Express-News has endorsed San Antonio native Bill White, the Democrat who served three terms as mayor of Houston, over Republican incumbent Rick Perry in the race for Texas governor.
2010: Dallas Morning News Endorses White
Breaking with its recent tradition of supporting Republican candidates for governor, The Dallas Morning News has endorsed Democrat Bill White in his effort to deny Rick Perry a third full term in office.
Clinton: Don’t Blow It, Vote for Ciro
President Bill Clinton stops in San Antonio late Thursday to rally with U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, who’s facing a tough re-election challenge from Republican Francisco “Quico” Canseco.
Where They Stand: The Governor’s Race
In the absence of a real debate between Gov. Rick Perry and his Democratic challenger, Bill White, Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune has created the next best thing: a mash-up of their answers to questions asked Friday by the Tribune’s Evan Smith during one-hour interviews of the candidates sponsored by the Trib, KUT and Austin public television station KLRU.
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Hu on freshman House Democrats trying to win re-election in a Republican year, Grissom on Republicans bolstered by those same political trends, Aguilar on slow reforms in immigrant detention programs, Chang on the trouble with synthetic marijuana, Ramshaw on how proposed cuts in state Medicaid services could affect 13,000 Texans, yours truly on how political polls have as much to do with who’s counted as with what they say, Galbraith on why Texas is building coal plants in spite of tightening federal air pollution standards, Hamilton on community colleges accusing the University of Texas of siphoning money from their financial wells, M. Smith on the court of inquiry proposed for a death penalty case and how it would work, and E. Smith interviews U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess about federal health care: The best of our best from Oct. 11 to 15, 2010.
TribBlog: Listen To Skinner Oral Arguments
Listen to the oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday in the Texas death penalty case of Hank Skinner.
Audio from Hank Skinner Supreme Court Oral Arguments
U.S. Supreme Court oral argument in Skinner v Switzer.
2010: Haggerty’s Mom Endorses Moody
Former El Paso Republican state Rep. Pat Haggerty’s mom is apparently not one to forgive and forget.
2010: Rick Perry Interview Highlights
Watch highlights from Gov. Rick Perry’s interview with Evan Smith on Friday. In the clips, Perry discusses whether Texas is a sanctuary state, and the effectiveness of abstinence education.

