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?
Politics
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Politics
Guest Column: Rational Numbers
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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Health care
The Polling Center: Public Option, Universal Coverage Divide Texans
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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Politics
The Brief: December 14, 2009
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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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.
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Politics
The Medina Effect
Debra Medina may yet have a role to play in the race for governor. Analysts say her potential effect ranges from negligible to potential spoiler.
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Politics
The Charter School Waiting Game
Nearly 130,000 students attend Texas charter schools, but 40,000 more are waiting to get in.
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Politics
Party Matters
Candidates from both sides of the spectrum are self-recruited and responsible for their own campaigns. So what’s the value of a relationship with the state’s political parties?
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Politics
Audio: White Hits the Road
After Houston mayor Bill White joined the race for governor late last week, one of his first stops was Austin, a Democratic stronghold that made for a nice, safe place to start his campaign.
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Economy
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
It was a political week, with a full-court press from our staff on Bill White’s switch to the governor’s race and all of the fallout; the moves during the first week of filing for political races; Philpott’s look at Republicans challenging Republicans; Hu’s latest in the popular Stump Interrupted series; Ramshaw on emergency rooms, family doctors, and child protection; Stiles and Grissom mapping payday lending locations juxtaposed with family income data; Rapoport on the state budget and education; Thevenot on KBH’s plans for schools; and Hamilton on the power (or not) of political endorsements. The best of the best from November 28 to December 4, 2009.