TribBlog: Abbott Explains Health Care Lawsuit
Listen to Attorney General Greg Abbott explain why he and other attorneys general are suing the federal government over the just-passed health care reform bill. Full Story
The latest politics news from The Texas Tribune.
Listen to Attorney General Greg Abbott explain why he and other attorneys general are suing the federal government over the just-passed health care reform bill. Full Story
The first political ads bought by a corporation in Texas appeared in East Texas newspapers just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively ended the state's ban on that kind of spending. They challenged the Republican bona fides of state Rep. Chuck Hopson of Jacksonville, a Democrat who switched parties in November and ran in a three-way GOP primary. Full Story
Grissom on the 1.2 million Texans who've lost their licenses under the Driver Responsibility Act and the impenetrable black box that is the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Ramshaw and Kraft on nurses with substance abuse problems and rehabilitation that can get them back to work, M. Smith finds it's not easy being Rick Green, Stiles on counting Texans (and everybody else), Rapoport on the State Board of Education's war with itself and the runoff in SBOE District 10, Thevenot's revealing interview with a big-city superintendent on closing bad schools, Aguilar on the tensions over water on the Texas-Mexico border, Hamilton on the new Coffee Party, Hu on Kesha Rogers and why her party doesn't want her, Philpott on the runoff in HD-47, Ramsey on Bill White and the politics of taxes, and E. Smith's conversation with Game Change authors Mark Halperin and John Heleimann: The best of our best from March 15 to 19. Full Story
The Cook Political Report isn't the only place that sees some chinks in Rick Perry's armor. Full Story
Railroad Commission Chairman Victor Carrillo, a seven-year incumbent with a background in the industry he regulates, got trounced in the GOP primary on Tuesday by an unknown, David Porter, who spent little money on the race. He's not the only one who thinks his Hispanic surname cost him his job. Full Story
"Early polling showed that the typical GOP primary voter has very little info about the position of Railroad Commissioner, what we do, or who my opponent or I were. Given the choice between “Porter” and “Carrillo” — unfortunately, the Hispanic-surname was a serious setback from which I could never recover." Full Story
Candidates favored by the Tea Party movement did not fare well on primary night, but they had an effect on several races. Full Story
Photographer Justin Dehn and I hit up some polling places around Austin to see what was on voters minds. We selected some timely music for our drive. Full Story
An election that initially favored Sen. Hutchison has settled into a contest where Sen. Hutchison’s support is in the high 20’s while Gov. Perry’s is in the mid-40’s. Full Story
Be our eyes and ears on election day. Start sending in your photos, updates and other ephemera from throughout election day to MEDIA@TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG. Full Story
“We’ll do a runoff if we have to," she said Saturday. "I’d like to secure it outright." She paused and smiled. "It will be the upset of the century if that happens." Full Story
The latest Rasmussen Poll has Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White still trailing Republicans Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in hypothetical general-election contests this fall. Full Story
Whether he crosses the 50% threshold or is forced into a run-off when the polls close next Tuesday, the results of the last UT/Texas Tribune Poll suggest that Rick Perry's synchronous orbit over a big chunk of the Republican primary electorate has helped him prove many observers — not to mention KBH boosters and donors — very wrong. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry's tapping into an anti-government groundswell with his latest ad. It's called "Tenth Amendment." Full Story
Is this the year that independent-minded state Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, finally gets his comeuppance from conservatives? Full Story
Do attack ads work? In the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, we tested the effectiveness of two "comparative" commercials run in the governor's race to see if they were persuasive to voters. Apparently so. Full Story
Five Farouk Shami staffers - including his top aides - have quit the campaign. Full Story
The Texas Workforce Commission spent nearly $50 million during the last two years on day care centers and in-home childcare providers with troubled track records — including sexual and physical abuse, kidnapping, and leaving infants to suffocate and die in their cribs. A Texas Tribune review found that at least 135 subsidized facilities had their licenses revoked or denied by the Department of Family and Protective Services in 2008 and 2009 and had their funding immediately suspended. Full Story
Forget about Don McLeroy vs. Thomas Ratliff. The most interesting fight for a State Board of Education seat may be in San Antonio, where well-funded lawyer-lobbyist Tim Tuggey is challenging incumbent Ken Mercer — and the big question being asked is, 'How conservative is conservative enough?' Full Story
The governor leads the GOP pack with 45 percent, followed by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchsion at 29 and Debra Medina at 17. Full Story