We stuck with the presidential race and the governor in this week’s nonscientific survey of political and government insiders, asking for their impressions of Gov. Rick Perry and how his candidacy reflects on the state.
Politics
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Politics
Updated: Perry Questioned on Polls, “Birther” Issue
At a press conference hours after releasing his tax and spending plan, Rick Perry faced questions about his low poll numbers and his comments on Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
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Inside Intelligence
Inside Intelligence: Presidential Report Card
Our insiders are watching their governor closely, and half of the people who’ve been watching him the longest — and professionally, at that — say he’s not doing as well in the presidential campaign as they expected. That said, they’re not writing him off.
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Higher Education
A Fight Outlasts the Proposal that Sparked It
A recurring theme questioned the status quo of the boards that govern higher education at this week’s day-long meeting of the Joint Oversight Committee on Higher Education Governance, Excellence, and Transparency: Are the boards that govern higher education due for more restrictive conflict-of-interest policies?
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Demographics
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson interactively asks if stimulus funds created jobs in Texas, Aguilar on new voter registrar rules that could decrease voter turnout, Galbraith on a UT professor’s debunking of climate change “myths,” Grissom on an epic clash of El Paso political titans, Hamilton on the right’s new higher ed guru, Murphy maps household data from the 2010 Census, Ramsey on a coming rules fight in the Texas Senate, Root and M. Smith on Rick Perry’s performance at the New Hampshire debate and M. Smith talks public ed cuts with the state’s Superintendent of the Year: The best of our best content from October 10-14, 2011.
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Inside Intelligence
Inside Intelligence: School Finance
This week, we asked the insiders whether the school finance lawsuits will play in the elections and in the next legislative session.
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Higher Education
Higher Ed Guru: Seven Solutions a “Good Start”
Thomas Lindsay, recently selected to head the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Higher Education, attributes the state’s growing awareness of higher education to the discussion begun by the TPPF.
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Politics
Will Redistricting Court Battles Create Electoral Confusion?
The redrawing of political district lines — which ideally happens just once a decade after a federal census — could create a series of crazy election cycles for Texas voters and candidates. It happened in the 1990s, and it could happen again now.
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Inside Intelligence
Inside Intelligence: Bad News, Good News
It’s been a noisy week for Rick Perry, the presidential candidate, so we asked the insiders whether any of what they’ve heard and read over the last few days will stick. Will the stories have legs? Is the good news good enough to last? The bad news?
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Energy
Business Groups Back Water Ballot Measure
Next month, Texans will go to the polls to decide whether to authorize $6 billion in bonding authority dedicated to building and fixing water infrastructure. But some conservatives and Tea Party members have concerns about the measure.
