Gov. Perry made a timely announcement today: He’s proposing initiatives to improve mental health programs for veterans.
Griffin Perry
Texas Weekly: Are Republican candidates ignoring Hispanics?
What concerns me as a Republican is that the race for governor may be focusing too much on the personalities of the candidates and the highly charged nature of the race rather than the long-term vision and consequences. I worry that either candidate could win the race but lose the future — too much focus on the politics of the next year, rather than the policies of the next decade.
2010: White sits tight
Bill White is still running for the U.S. Senate, according to aides and to White himself, in response to a flurry of weekend rumors that he’s switching to the race for governor.
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Ramshaw’s multi-parter on restraints in schools, Thevenot’s reading on the future of textbooks, Ramsey’s take on a Democratic defection, Rapoport’s profile of self-described “religious fanatic” Don McLeroy, and Henson and Shaw’s thoroughly noncontroversial poll on the governor’s race (kidding!): The best of the best from November 3 to November 6, 2009.
The Polling Center: Texas vs. Washington?
The UT/Tribune poll results convey some very intense disapproval of political leadership.
Instapundit
Is willing yourself to be a player enough to make it so? In the meantime, will the real Matt Mackowiak please stand up?
Should KBH resign? Two views
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is playing a high stakes game of will-she-won’t-she. So should she or shouldn’t she?
The Polling Center: Are Texas Independents Really All That Independent?
Do the majority of Texans who call themselves independents actually behave that way at the polls? The inaugural UT/TT poll provides a decisive answer to that question: No.
Mixed impressions inside the poll numbers
Texans say immigration tops their list of state concerns. Nearly half of them say illegal immigrants should be deported, as against 41 percent who think the immigrants should be allowed to keep their jobs, assimilate, and eventually be allowed to apply for legal status.
2010: Hair Yesterday, Gone Today
So Houston hair-care king Farouk Shami is in the race, pledging to spend $10 million to win a Democratic primary in which the majority of voters are still undecided. Among the interesting things to watch will be the dynamic between Shami and his rival for the nomination, Kinky Friedman, as the two are well acquainted: Shami was the subject of one of Kinky’s fawning TEXAS MONTHLY columns (edited by yours truly) back in 2003 — the sort of piece in which he would go all gooey over someone he professes to love, like Racehorse Haynes or Jim Nabors.

