On the heels of a Rasmussen Poll that had Democrat Bill White well behind incumbent Republican Rick Perry in the race for governor, Austin-based Opinion Analysts released a survey showing a nine-point lead for Perry. But that Democratic polling firm adds a fat caveat, reading the Guv’s favorability ratings as negative and pointing out that 48 percent of voters want a change in the state’s top office, when asked if they prefer Perry or “someone else.”
Bill White
Posted inState Government
2010: Saving Bill White’s Soul
“There was a lot of church growing up,” the former Houston mayor tells Texas Monthly, recalling his coming of age San Antonio.
Posted inState Government
2010: Perry 51, White 38
Rasmussen Reports released new poll numbers today showing Gov. Rick Perry widening his lead over Bill White.
Posted in
Politics
Neener-Neener
It’s an impulse most of us learn to suppress in the seventh grade — the need give your enemies wedgies, to tape “kick me” signs to their backs, to put lizards in their lunchboxes. Political people don’t suppress it — they channel it into goofy stunts to attract attention, ridicule opponents and blow off steam.
Posted in
Higher Education
Of Mice and Men
When Gov. Rick Perry announced the establishment of the Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine, a public-private partnership between the Texas A&M University System and Lexicon Genetics, he said the $50 million high-level mouse laboratory, paid for through the Texas Enterprise Fund that he controls, would “attract millions of dollars for medical research and lead to the development of life-saving medical treatments and therapies” for everything from diabetes to cancer. Five years later, depending on who you ask, TIGM has either been a massive taxpayer-subsidized boondoggle or a blessing to scientists across the globe.
Posted inState Government
Guest Column: Hey, Bill White, Time to Get Off the Stick!
To beat Rick Perry, you have to fight more skillfully and take greater advantage of the rare openings you’re given.
Posted inState Government
HuTube: What’s Happening Yao
KPRC-TV in Houston took the “Why Yao” question straight to Gov. Rick Perry.
Posted inState Government
2010: South Texans for Perry [Updated]
If Gov. Rick Perry had any hurt feelings from the defection of Grand Prairie’s Republican mayor to the Bill White campaign last week, an announcement today might make up for it.
Posted inState Government
A Defining Moment
Bill White, the Democratic nominee for governor, watched Rick Perry make mincemeat of Kay Bailey Hutchison in the GOP primary by painting a devastating picture of her before she could introduce herself to prospective voters. How to avoid the same fate? By travelling incessantly, trying to make himself known everywhere in Texas. By dismissing snippy press releases as interesting only to Austin insiders and pundits. By running bio ads on TV. In other words, by working the problem.
Posted in
Demographics
HuTube: Why Yao?
The latest Texans for Rick Perry web video gives us an idea of how the campaign will frame Democratic opponent Bill White. But what is Yao Ming doing in there?