Gov. Rick Perry likes to rail against the Obama administration’s “failed” federal stimulus program, but he and state lawmakers have more than $17 billion in fed-stim dollars to thank for the last two balanced Texas budgets.
Politics
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Politics
Here’s a Question: What if They All Lose?
Gov. Rick Perry is running for president. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is running for U.S. Senate. And it seems like everyone else in Texas politics is making plans based on one or both of those offices opening in 2012. What if they lose?
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Inside Intelligence
Inside Intelligence: The Senate Race
We’ll get to the details soon enough, but the headline is that our insiders think Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is the candidate to beat in next year’s U.S. Senate race.
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Inside Intelligence
Inside Intelligence: In the Race Ahead…
The insiders are more convinced that ever that Gov. Rick Perry will run for president.
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Criminal Justice
Susan Combs: The TT Interview
The state comptroller talks about the flip in her position on abortion, the data breach at her agency this spring, what office she might seek next and how all of the politics of those subjects mix.
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Politics
Unsolicited Help for Perry, Close to Home
Two new political outfits, based in Austin and started by a former legislator who served with and worked for Gov. Rick Perry, will try to rally veterans to the governor’s presidential race in Iowa and South Carolina.
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Demographics
Guest Column: Tea Party vs. GOP on Immigration
It’s not that Tea Party self-identifiers have different positions on immigration than regular old Republicans. They just feel more strongly about it.
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Politics
Williams Pulls a Switch
Michael Williams, who jumped from the U.S. Senate race to the congressional race in the new CD-33 in North Texas, says he’ll jump again: He’s running for congress in CD-25, a district that stretches from Tarrant County all the way south to Hays County.
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Politics
Michael Williams Could Move … Again
Michael Williams might be on the move again, switching from a new Tarrant County-centered congressional district to one that starts on that county’s southern edge and runs all the way south of Austin into Hays County.
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Politics
Facing Criticism, Perry Steps Back on Gay Marriage, States’ Rights
Gov. Rick Perry, taking flak from social conservatives, took a step back from his laissez-faire approach to New York’s gay marriage law on Thursday. Now he says it threatens the definition of marriage everywhere, including Texas.