Gov. Rick Perry leads his Democratic challenger, former Houston Mayor Bill White, 44 percent to 35 percent in the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, which was conducted May 14 to 20. Fifteen percent of the 800 registered voters surveyed are undecided about which of the gubernatorial candidates to support, while 7 percent prefer “someone else.” Perry leads among men, women and Anglos. White leads among African-Americans and Hispanics. In five other statewide races polled, each Republican leads his Democratic opponent by a double-digit margin.
Perry Up by 9 in New UT/TT Poll
Posted inState Government
A Conversation with Kirk Watson
For the 10th event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the state senator from Austin about the budget shortfall, the road funding hole, why Barack Obama is unpopular in Texas and the prospect of Bill White beating Rick Perry.
Posted inState Government
TribLive: Kirk Watson, Full Video
Full video of Evan Smith’s May 19 TribLive conversation with state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: Henry Cisneros Endorses…
Today the former San Antonio mayor, former HUD Secretary and recent social studies textbook reject publicly backed the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in a big, iconic state with a screwed-up Capitol culture and an incumbent governor who is occasionally the subject of unkind comments elsewhere in the country. No, not that candidate.
Posted in
Health care
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Thevenot on the ideological backbiting at the internationally famous State Board of Education; Stiles, Narioka and Hamilton plumb employee salary data in Texas colleges and universities; Grissom looks at the problem of insufficient indigent defense; Cervantes on the push for “veterans courts” emphasizing treatment and counseling over punishment; Aguilar finds border congressmen asking the governor for a fair break on federal homeland security dollars; M. Smith on another BP rig in the Gulf; Ramshaw reports on nurse practitioners trying to get permission slips from doctors; Hu follows up with lawmakers poking at whistleblower allegations of trouble in the state’s workers’ compensation regulation; Hamilton stops in on Luke Hayes and his efforts to turn Texas into a political powerhouse for Obama; and Ramsey writes on generation changes at the Capitol and on political pranksters: The best of our best from May 17 to 21, 2010.
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: SBOE’s Last Laugh
You know that prayer that before today’s State Board of Education meeting, which some found so inappropriate? It was read by arch-conservative Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond — but not written by her. In a gag on her detractors, she lifted the text from U.S. Supreme Court Justice and liberal icon Earl Warren.
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: History Standards in the Books
After a series of bombastic speeches, the State Board of Education just approved the social studies curriculum on a party line vote of 9-5, with Geraldine Miller, R-Dallas, absent.
Posted in
Demographics
TribBlog: Border Hostages
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is pushing hard for the FAA to approve a second aerial drone to surveil the Texas-Mexico border — holding an Obama nominee hostage until Texas gets its way.
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: SBOE Pierces Church-State Wall
The State Board of Education instructs students to “contrast” the intent of the Founding Fathers with the modern legal interpretation of the separation of church and state.
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: Jefferson and the SBOE’s Enlightenment
At long last, Thomas Jefferson returns to the State Board of Education’s world history standards, where he had been excised to great controversy earlier.
