Politics

The ad, titled "Working For Us," features people thanking Perry for creating a small business-friendly environment in the state.

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In politics, friendship apparently lasts through only one political cycle. Just ask Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Many organizations that previously supported both her and Gov. Rick Perry have put their weight behind Perry's re-election bid instead of her challenge. The Texas Farm Bureau sits as the sole trade group cheerleading for the Hutchison campaign — while Perry counts 50 organizations and associations supporting him.

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Score one for the little guy.

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The smart money is on Republican Susan Combs to retain her position as Comptroller.

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As Rick Perry says, “Texas is a unique place.” We rounded up the year's most fantastic (and sometimes funny) video clips that prove it.

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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.

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How are San Antonio Democrats reacting to the party's embezzlement scandal?

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Jack McDonald isn't running for Congress after all.

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Since 2005, Texas lobbyists have spent more than $500,000 on transportation and lodging for state officials, including members of the Lege.

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More than 2.5 million Texas students are enrolled in the School Lunch Program, but just a fraction of those participate in the federally funded Summer Food Program, according to a report the Center for Public Policy Priorities released toay.

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The only thing definitively in the weeds here is the reliability of this poll.

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The former Travis County District Attorney was expected to file for some statewide race, though precisely which one has been something of a mystery. Mystery solved.

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Surely they don’t do it this way in Peoria?

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Not many local polls have been made public, but this one confirms the rumor mill: One, Rick Perry’s lead in conservative areas of the state is a few points above what the UT/Trib poll found statewide. And, two, the impression that, as of now, the Kay Bailey Hutchison campaign is floundering if it's really trying to peel conservative voters away from Perry in significant numbers.

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Writing about congressional travel required days of tedious work because the information isn't easily accessible.

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The CPPP says Texas' high per capita child abuse and neglect death rate is due to the state's high child poverty and teen birth rates — but also how Texas tallies its numbers.

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When political consultants take on wealthy candidates, does that mean they can milk them and their campaigns for all they’re worth? Are they simply trying to help good people get elected? Or both?

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In every major urban and suburban Texas county, where the vast majority of Texans cast their ballots, the Democratic vote share increased betweeen 2004 and 2008. Montgomery County was the single exception. In Denton, Collin, Fort Bend, and Williamson Counties — four of the five most populous traditionally Republican suburban counties — the Democratic vote rose.

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In the health care debate, universal coverage has significant if not overwhelming support, but is also marked by pronounced partisan differences, and Texans appeared truly split down the middle on the “public option.”

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Kinky Friedman’s song “Before All Hell Breaks Loose” begins, “Time to resign from the human race.” Today, we will find out if he thinks it’s time to do the same in the governor's race.

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