Already the state’s single largest Democratic donor this campaign cycle, the Houston attorney has pledged to contribute at least $3 million to the party and its causes this year and has no intention of turning off the faucet. The man behind the Back to Basics PAC’s “coward” ad sat down with the Tribune last week to talk about why he feels the need to give, the influence of money in Texas politics, how “trial lawyer” became a perjorative and what he really thinks of the Democrats’ chances this fall.
The governor depicted by Democrats as a coward in statewide newspaper ads last week doesn’t seem nervous.
In fact, Rick Perry looks pretty comfortable, though he says he’s taking his Democratic challenger, Bill White, seriously and expects the last two months of the general election campaign to be at least as much work as his primary battle earlier this year against U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Republican renegade Debra Medina.
HOUSTON (KTRK) — Harris County election officials are scrambling to come up with plan for the midterm elections after a fire at a warehouse destroyed nearly all of the county’s voting machines.
Top 50 House Races For 2010; 46 Of Them Are Held By Democrats
Among those vulnerable Democrats is Rep. Chet Edwards who “represents a district in East Central Texas that went 67 percent for McCain” (Political Junkie)
Undocumented immigrants are more likely to be deported from the Travis County jail because of their immigration status than from any other jail in the country, according to federal data obtained by the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. Mose Buchele of KUT News reports.
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The poll, conducted Aug. 22, shows Perry leading White, 49 percent to 41 percent. Three percent of the respondents said they prefer another candidate, and 7 percent were undecided.
The results are similar to Rasmussen polls in June and July, which showed the governor leading the former Houston mayor by 8 and 9 points, respectively.
White faces a tough race in a state that trends conservative Republican, especially given the national electoral mood.
Seventy-six percent (76%) of Texas voters consider Perry a conservative. Forty-two percent (42%) view White as a liberal, while another 29% describe him as a moderate.
Despite the perceived differences in ideology, 51% of voters in the state describe Perry’s political views as mainstream, and 52% say the same of White’s views. Thirty-three percent (33%) brand Perry’s views as extreme, and 29% think White’s are extreme.
Rasmussen polled 500 likely voters. The poll’s margin of error is +/- 4.5 percent.
by Ben Philpott, The Texas Tribune August 18, 2010
Last week, Republicans loudly complained about a just-approved bill that would send $830 million in federal education funds to Texas with strings attached. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, Democrats have their own reason to balk.
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by Morgan Smith, The Texas Tribune August 20, 2010
Alberto Gonzales isn’t joining his Republican colleagues in calling for a review of the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship provision.
In an interview with KRLD NewsRadio in Dallas, the former U.S. Attorney General and Texas Supreme Court justice told host Scott Braddock that it would not be wise to “tinker” with birthright citizenship — and that a repeal of the amendment would not “be effective in addressing the immigration crisis.”
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