Let’s say, thanks to Debra Medina, neither Rick Perry nor Kay Bailey Hutchison cracks 50 percent in the Republican gubernatorial primary. What exactly happens next? When? And which of the two top finishers will have the edge?
U.S. House of Representatives
Posted inState Government
Is Ralph Hall Too Old?
The Rockwall Republican, first elected to Congress almost thirty years ago, turns 87 in May. His seven challengers — five fellow Republicans, a Democrat, and a Libertarian — aren’t shy about making his age an issue.
Posted in
Demographics
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Roll your own political videos … interactive travel maps of your federal and state legislators … scary movies, to keep the kids out of the border’s scary drug wars … puttting dropouts back in class … rates squeezing families out of home health care … how many lobby and trade associations do teachers in Texas need? … enjoying the silence before an expected two-month siege of political advertising … the dean of Texas political writers gets shut out of the gubernatorial debates … and we have an interactive database of the state’s best and worst public schools. The best of our best for a short news week, from December 19 to 26, 2009.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: Digging Through Disclosure
Writing about congressional travel required days of tedious work because the information isn’t easily accessible.
Posted inState Government
KHOU-TV companion story on congressional travel
KHOU-TV in Houston did a story using The Texas Tribune’s analysis of Texas congressional travel.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Frequent Flyers
Members of the Texas congressional delegation took more than 200 privately funded trips, at a cost of more than $350,000, in 2008 and 2009.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Mapmaker, Mapmaker
Think like the political pros and your mind will go to the long game instead of the short one. The short game is the elections of 2010. The long game is redistricting in 2011, when maps are drawn that corral the voters into the districts that will elect legislators for the next ten years.
Posted in
State Government
Fight Club
With 198 legislators on the ballot next year, there ought to be more fear in the air. But only a few are in obvious political trouble. Who’s on the list, and what makes them vulnerable?
