Today marks the start of the last full week before the March 2 primaries. Accordingly, the papers are spilling some serious ink on down-ballot races.
Dan Patrick
2010: Rick and Sarah
It’s not every campaign rally where volunteers checking your bag at the door ask if you’re carrying a concealed weapon. Then again, not every rally features Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Ted Nugent, Dan Patrick, and hordes of tearful, exuberant realtors, homeschoolers, farmers, and like-minded Washington, D.C. haters.
The Brief: February 5, 2010
Cowboys fans now have a new option for what to do on Super-Bowl Sunday: hear Ted Nugent croon and Sarah Palin rally. Tony Romo won’t be there.
Social Studies
Thanks to sites like Facebook and Twitter, we know the elected officials who represent us better than ever โ sometimes in weirdly intimate ways. You can find out that Dan Patrick had to put his dog down, that Wayne Christian is a fan of real estate wunderkind and reality TV star Chad Rogers, and that Bill White just finished listening to a book on tape. But woe to the pol who hasn’t updated her status in a year.
2010: Rallying Cry
More than a week after they surfaced in the Republican gubernatorial primary debate, the politics of abortion are again heating up.
The Brief: January 22, 2010
How will Thursday’s shooting change security guidelines at the Capitol?
TribBlog: Perry Commends DPS Troopers Who Nabbed Capitol Shooter
A man entered Sen. Dan Patrick’s office, then fired shots outside the Capitol. No injuries have been reported.
2010: Truth Behind the Tweet
Itโs the end of the week. Productivity is down and the need for distraction is up. Luckily, a psychology professor has a tool that could easily fill a political junkie’s afternoon.
The Brief: December 22, 2009
State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, will be hiking, not running, in 2010.
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Stiles and Thevenot collaborate on the salaries paid to superintendents, and even compare them on price per studentโฆ Ramseyโs look at redistricting and next yearโs electionsโฆ Aguilarโs report on jails, brought to you by the federal agency thatโs in the ag businessโฆ Rapoportโs peek at the power behind Texas pre-kindergarten programsโฆ Smithโs conversation with Dan Patrick, in three partsโฆ Grissomโs narrative on a circular immigration and deportation route financed by two governmentsโฆ Ramshaw finds doctors agreeing on public policy and split on strategy and tacticsโฆ Huโs latest Stump Interrupted puts the camera on Farouk Shamiโฆ Hamiltonโs story on two retired cops who are taking on cargo theft in Texasโฆ And Kreighbaum and Stiles pop open the itineraries of your folks in Congress. The best of our best from December 12 to 18, 2009.

