The Paramount Theatre, in conjunction with Austin's creative community, is taking the politicians out of the political arena and onto the stage in order to answer public questions pertaining to the arts. At 7pm tomorrow, Tuesday, March 29, the city council candidates on the ballot for the May election will partake in this Q&A session. The evening's forum will be moderated by Evan Smith, CEO and editor-in-chief of the Texas Tribune. more ›

• On election eve, the size of the coming Republican wave is hard to predict
• Thousands descend on Washington DC for Rally to Restore Sanity
• Bomb plot shows key role played by intelligence

Rick Perry didn't bother showing up in person, but Bill White, Kathie Glass, and Deb Shafto still had plenty to say about him in Tuesday's debate. While Bill White raised further questions on Perry, the strategic applause from Glass supporters almost stole the show. more ›

• Wanna vote in the November Elections? This is your last day to register!
• Teen video game whiz from the 80’s tells what it was like back in the day.
• Keeping Austin weird: Frankenstein done by puppets!

• Car collector dies… in a car accident.
• Be careful whom you shoot when they are coming into your condo!
• Skip class=find true love.

A judge in Dallas and state Attorney General Greg Abbott are publicly butting heads over a potentially precedent-setting gay divorce case. more ›

Governor Perry's campaign has drummed up a creative way for its supporters to profit off its success. more ›

Members of Governor Perry's re-election campaign are in a huff after the web video feed broadcasting his live speech was hijacked by hackers. more ›

State Senate approves bill which would have doctors offer ultrasound to women seeking abortion, and more. more ›

Every weekday morning we'll be featuring a photo (or two) from our readers. Please feel free to submit your photos (min 600px width) by adding them to the Austinist Flickr Group. more ›

• Relive Obama's speech last night with video and transcript
• Thousands jam Chicago's Grant Park for victory celebration
• How did he do it? Journey to the presidency marked by organization, discipline

Bring your camera with you to the polls today: share videos and photos from your polling places, election parties and communities with Austinist on Flickr. Either tag them "austinist" or submit them to the Austinist group! more ›

On Sunday, October 26, eight days before Election Day, Sen. Barack Obama held a rally with over 100,000 people in downtown Denver, Colorado--the capital of a state that has voted for a Republican in nine out of the last ten presidential elections. One of those people in the crowd that day was 86-year old Charles Alexander, a Boulder resident that has lived a remarkable life, combated a variety of hardships and out of it all personified a true American story, with a life dedicated to family and service. more ›

If you smell something fishy emanating from the low-key release of Michael Moore's new documentary, turns out your nose "knows." Not a lot of press has come out from Michigan's man of the people, and you can't catch it at the Alamo. Instead he has released Slacker Uprising online, free for anyone to download. This move, which no doubt will be soon dubbed "In Rainbows" (e.g., "Moore released his film in rainbows last week" — a new idiom!) may reflect the quality of the story's material. Moore has some faith in it, because he bought back the distribution rights from the Weinsteins to broadcast it over the series of tubes. That implies that they'd been sitting on it for a while, and although that's part of the Weinstein reputation, it looks like the material just wasn't so hot to start with. more ›

• Palin gets back on track, but Biden wins debate.
• Pro-war group offered cash for Frats to demonstrate at VP debate.
• Another swing state yielded to Obama.

• Clinton wins Kentucky, Obama wins Oregon to gain majority of pledged delegates
• Sen. Ted Kennedy released from hospital a day after doctors revealed he has a brain tumor
• Hamilton Jordan, former Chief of Staff for Jimmy Carter, dies

• A big win in West Virginia boosts Clinton, but the math still favors Obama
• Death toll for China earthquake rises as troops rush to plug dam
• A new storm may hit cyclone-ravaged Myanmar

It may be best to stay off IH35 this weekend; the highway closure in Buda will surely slow down traffic in Austin. Don't forget the municipal election tomorrow! Yeah, yeah, we know already: Perry reaffirms that he will run again for governor in 2010. Sinkhole overtaking the town of Daisetta. more ›

• Obama wins big in North Carolina; Clinton ekes out Indiana
• Cyclone deaths in Myanmar may top 22,000
• New Russian president sworn in; Putin to become prime minister

First the traffic cams, now this: Chief Acevedo wants surveillance cameras on high-crime zones. Rep. Krusee from Round Rock, who fought for harsher DWI laws, was arrested last night on DWI charges. Blame a water main break on why you were stuck in traffic this morning near Lavaca and Fifth. American Lung Association gives our city a D for ozone pollution. more ›

Primary results from national/state/local races: So even though it seems that Hillary won the Texas primary (it's interesting that Obama led in statewide early voting), Obama may beat her in delegate numbers. In the GOP race, McCain is now the GOP candidate as Huckabee gives up the ghost. In Travis County, Ron Paul won 17% of the vote . . . more ›

When Norman Mailer and Hunter Thompson wrote about political showdowns, they were incapable of resisting the fight metaphor. They knew that there is no such thing as a contest of ideas, a balanced measure of experience and aptitude. That a political debate is most akin to boxing, that it’s both a brawl and a dance. But if a political debate is tantamount to a heavyweight title, then it is one cast in negative: Even if he wins, Americans don’t want to see their man take too many shots on the chin. more ›

The Daily Texan has announced its list of endorsed candidates, with one glaring omission. more ›

After eight years of having Texas be a no-contest state for all presidential hopefuls, this election year it could play kingmaker for one of the two Democratic candidates. The Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4 have already been dubbed Super Tuesday Two by many news outlets. Between the two states, close to 400 delegates are at stake. Texas with 126 and Ohio with 140 (not counting superdelegates). Austin accounts for 8 of the total Texas delegates. more ›

If you want to vote in Texas' presidential primary elections but haven't registered yet, time is running out. Monday is the last day for voter registration. more ›

Venezuelan voters didn't want Chavez as a ruler for life after all. Putin's party wins the Russian election, warns against Westerners who may say the election was unfair. Best feminist candidate: Obama? Later this week, Romney will publicly address his Mormon faith and how it may affect his possible presidency. Looks like it will be Texas v. Arizona State at the Holiday Bowl. Conan O'Brien will pay his "Late Night" crew from his own... more ›

Sign of global warming? Two butterflies make their first appearance in the Valley; they haven't ventured this far North before. Austin lawyer forged judges' signatures on personal bonds. KXAN shows how an Austin couple's startup is making it simple to buy from Shanghai (see video at right). GOP Presidential hopeful Huckabee was in town fund-raising last night. Operation Blue Santa needs volunteers. And so does the Human Rights Commission! State Rep. Mike Krusee won't... more ›

Photo from LiveStrong.orgIs Austin hero and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong mulling over a possible gubernatorial bid? Some folks seem to think so. After championing last month's pro-cancer research bill, Prop 15 (which passed almost unanimously, despite the fevered efforts of some vocal neocons), and hobnobbing with the likes of President George H. W. Bush, Armstrong seems well-positioned to run for political office in the next few years. Both State Sen. Kirk Watson... more ›

Senator Barack Obama delivered a rousing speech to thousands of die-hard supporters this past Saturday at the Backyard, touching on just about every hot issue at the core of next year's election debates. Pledging to shut down Guantanamo, restore habeas corpus, and renew the hunt for Al Qaeda, Obama stressed the need for a stronger international agenda and quoted Kennedy's famous inaugural address—"Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear... more ›

Image by the "Subway Cyrano," from GothamistNew York City was at its strangest and swellest this week. On Sunday, tens of thousands people ran in the NYC Marathon, including Mrs. Tom Cruise, aka Katie Holmes, who ran it in just under 5 hours, 30 minutes. Gothamist also found out that limes in Corona are sometimes illegal, the weird maple syrup might be back and a famous punk music pioneer-turned-real estate broker was possibly killed by... more ›