Politics

The final amendment in the Bill of Rights provides state leaders their best avenue around federal policies they don't agree with. That is, if the Tenth Amendment actually means something.

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Congressional Quarterly's latest rankings of congressional races has only three Texas contests in the "likely" category, two on the Democratic side and one on the Republican side.

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Who is this bald, wonkish, moderate Democrat, where’d he come from, and why’s everyone talking about him?

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Your afternoon reading.

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Ready to welcome U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Gov. Rick Perry into your living room?

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Republicans Kay Bailey Hutchison and Rick Perry have started their air war, and Democrat Farouk Shami — new to the race — starts on TV at the same time.

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Your afternoon reading.

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The polarization was striking: 80% of Texas Democrats were worried about staying too long in Afghanistan, while 76% of Texas Republicans were worried about leaving Afghanistan too soon. In the comparable national poll question, there was a notable but less striking split, with 61% of Democrats choosing a smaller increase, with 65% calling for a larger increase.

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The race for governor has a future in radio.

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Could Sarah Palin be far behind?

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We live in an era of rudeness, in society in general, in the popular culture, and in our political life. Our culture today rewards incivility, crudeness, and cynicism. You can get on TV if you out-shout and offend the other guy. Everyone screams. No one listens. People don't just disagree; the challenge to the other is a battle to the death. What happened to us?

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I must put what's best for my campaign aside and do what is best for Texas. That is why I must stay in the Senate while running for the Republican nomination for governor. I cannot walk away while this fight is being fought by our fellow Republicans. I must stay and fight with them.

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KBH resigns herself to staying in the Senate, Grissom investigates the broken border, Ramshaw outs IT contractors who make gigabucks from state agencies, Hu gives Hutchison and Perry the Stump Interrupted treatment, the new head of the Foresenic Science Commission faces his critics, Stiles posts a searchable database of fines levied by the state ethics commission, and Hamilton discovers the consequences of party switching (none): The best of the best from November 9 to 13, 2009.

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New poll numbers and the national healthcare debate aside, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has decided she will hold on to her seat until after the March primary. A new poll has Gov. Rick Perry 11 percentage points ahead of Sen. Hutchison. That Rasmussen poll comes just 10 days after the UT/Texas Tribune Poll showing Perry ahead by 12 points. .

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Should the state set limits on political contributions? Depends on which candidate you ask.

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One little speech and everybody’s all atwitter.

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"It’d be like someone standing at the Alamo going, ‘I’m not gonna survive this thing,’ and all of a sudden he jumps up and starts speaking Spanish!" says Rep. Mark Homer, D-Paris. Maybe so, but switching parties usually works out.

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