Monday's federal court-dictated deadline for compromise on redrawn Congressional maps has come and gone with no agreement in sight. Among those still treading water is state Senator Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, who must be seriously questioning the power of prayer right now. more ›

Abortion opponents marked the 39th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade this past Saturday with a march on the Capitol. Many of the attendees had something to celebrate: namely, the recent decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that Texas’ controversial mandatory sonogram law must be enforced even as it continues to be appealed. more ›

Just one week after suspending his campaign, Perry is about to oversee his 239th execution, making him the number one governor for executions ever. Well, at least he's number one at something. more ›

The Rick Perry campaign may be running on fumes at the moment, but at least he's still got his sense of humor. more ›

Just because you can continue a political campaign, does that mean you should? Here are several reasons why Rick Perry probably should end his run for the Republican presidential nomination--and a few reasons why he's not going to. more ›

After last night's dismal showing at the Iowa caucuses, most newspapers and blogs predicted that Governor Rick Perry would be dropping out of the race. Not so much. more ›

Does Mitt Romney really want to be President? We wonder. more ›

Governor Rick Perry released a new ad Wednesday portraying himself as the champion of America’s war-torn Christians. This transparent lunge after the low-hanging double digits of Iowa’s disproportionately heavy evangelical caucus vote finds Rick Perry trying to reposition himself as the answer to the Rick Santorum question that no one is asking. more ›

Rick Perry is currently struggling to reestablish his credibility as a presidential candidate by blaming those nasty old smarty-pants liberal elites. But Governor Goodhair may find campaign resurrection a much trickier proposition than he realizes. more ›

On Tuesday, a three judge panel of the Federal Court in Washington ruled that Texas Republican lawmakers used an "improper standard" in determining how the electoral map in Texas will be drawn for the 2012 election cycle. more ›

The day began like every other day. The dawn rose and with it Rick Perry. He woke up, kicked off his down comforter and un-rolled the curls from his hair. But as he sat at his vanity, brushing his hair and thinking of breakfast, he caught a chill, a chill he wasn't able to shake. It was like someone walked across his grave. more ›

At last night's Republican debate, our governor attempted to tell the world something big about his philosophy, something so critical to his economic policy, he had distilled it down to three points. These three points, he seemed eager to share, were pieces of the U.S. government that would be eliminated when he took office. "I will tell you: It's three agencies of government, when I get there, that are gone: Commerce, Education and the -- what's the third one there? Let's see. ... OK. So Commerce, Education and the -- ... The third agency of government I would -- I would do away with the Education, the ... Commerce and -- let's see -- I can't. The third one, I can't. Sorry. Oops." more ›

Hey, didja hear the one about the Texas state legislator who let slip an ethnic slur during a legislative hearing on insurance? more ›

After recent stumbles, fumbles, gaffes, and just plain weirdness, it's safe to wonder whether the wheels have finally come off the Rick Perry presidential express. If so, whither the governor? more ›

By now you've seen clips from Governor Perry's 25 minute talk with New Hampshire residents over the weekend, and this mashup features the most entertaining 8 minutes of that afternoon. Sure, he looks a little googly-eyed at times, but isn't this more fun than stuttering robot Rick we've gotten to know in the debates? As John Stewart said on the Daily Show last night, he's either hammered here, or every other time we've seen him he's been hammered, and this is Rick Perry sober as the day he was born. But hey, no sexual harassment so far, right? Right! more ›

The Obama 2012 campaign feels like it's been given an early Christmas present by the Rick Perry campaign that any politician would love. When Perry announced his candidacy for President in August, he was catapulted into the lead and stayed there for almost two months. That allowed him to raise large donations from both big-money donors and small dollar contributors across the country. Now with $15 million on hand and virtually no chance for the nomination, his campaign can only benefit Obama. more ›

Gov. Rick Perry, in an attempt to regain traction in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, has released an economic plan that he's hoping won't fall flat. more ›

For many folks, one of Rick Perry's greatest successes as governor was attempting to create mandatory HPV vaccinations for school-aged girls. 'Cancer's the worst!' the action seemed to shout. And, because most people agree, everyone nodded and Texas was on its way to eradicating some forms of cervical cancer and everything was great. But then some people claimed that mandating HPV vaccines was unconstitutional or anti-American or whatever and Perry conceded and decided to take the mandatory HPV thing off the table until something constitutional and fully American or whatever could be figured out. more ›

Perry managed to stay awake through this, so that's a plus, but at the same time, it's all "You're a liar." "No, you're a liar." "You can't talk." "No, you can't talk." "Anderson, please help me!" But he actually did say, "I'm running for office ... I can't hire illegals." Because guess what, if you aren't running, who cares? more ›

Rick Perry's presidential bid is quickly fading just two months after it started. In the NBC/WSJ poll released last night, Herman Cain leads Mitt Romney 27 percent to 23 percent, with Perry coming in a dismal 16 percent, down more than 15 points since August and unlikely to climb back to front runner status in part due to his sudden similarities to the former governor Bush. more ›

Kansas City-based engineering firm HNTB was awarded a no-bid contract to manage $1 billion in disaster recovery funds. So far, Texas has paid HNTB more than $45 million to process the funding program that is significantly behind schedule according to federal officials. HTNB has been much more efficient, however, in distributing funds to the Perry-friendly Republican Governor's Association. more ›

It’s hard to dispute the facts of an abstinence-only sex education program: Don’t have sex and you won’t get pregnant. Don’t have sex and you won’t get a sexually transmitted disease. This kind of sex education program is taught in 96 percent of Texas classrooms, according to the Texas Freedom Network. Despite standing on this moral high ground and their best efforts, schools districts around the state appear to be realizing that--shock and amazement--teens will still have sex. The state's lackluster record helps prove that. Texas ranks fifth in the country for teen pregnancy, third in young people with AIDS and fourth in terms of syphilis among teens, according to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. more ›

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Texas may not enforce its abortion sonogram law while the measure is still under appeal, according to the Texas Tribune. more ›

Since Tim Pawlenty is now out of the race, Rick Perry snatched up his ad wizard Lucas Baiano. Baiano appears to favor Michael Bay-esque sequences. Surprisingly, there's no image of the Capitol Records building toppled by an earthquake or the White House being taken out by a ginormous wave in this new Perry ad. Instead, the ad shows spaces void of people to represent the lack of job growth (we think that's what it symbolizes) and then a whole heck of a lot of quick edits spin to Perry and how "it's time to get America workin' again." And when we say quick, we mean quick -- towards the end, the video throws up random images so quickly it's like a strobe light trying to send subliminal messages. What do you think? Does this make you want to buy what Perry's selling? (Remember, he won't be bought for $5,000.) more ›

Duane Buck, sentenced to death for a 1995 double homicide in Houston, is breathing a little easier this morning. Two hours into last night's six hour execution window (he'd even eaten his "last meal" already), the US Supreme Court stayed his execution. Gov. Perry and other officials had made no move to even postpone the execution date after questions of his race being a factor in his sentencing were raised. Buck's lawyers assert that he is due a new sentencing hearing; the Supreme Court has temporarily postponed his execution while they review the lawyers' claims. You can read more about Buck's case in yesterday's post. more ›

During his ten-plus years as Governor of Texas, Rick Perry has presided over 234 death row executions. That number will likely increase by one come 6:00 pm tonight, when Duane Edward Buck is scheduled to be put to death. more ›

Rick Perry's excoriation of Social Security may win over the hearts of many (middle class and middle-aged) Tea Partiers, but his stance on another issue may leave him with one foot out of the proverbial Tea Bag. Indeed, Perry's tolerant position on immigration puts him at odds with the Tea Party caucus, and could result in a rift between two conservative ideologies that is as symbolic as the border fence itself. more ›

Gov. Rick Perry said during Monday night's GOP debate that he was "offended" that he could be bought for a mere $5,000 contribution. So, governor, this begs the question: how much does a political favor go for in the Lone Star State? And will allegations of cronyism hurt Perry in his race for the White House? more ›