Less than 24 hours after a district judge in Austin stopped a Texas law that bans all state funding of Planned Parenthood, a federal appellate court judge granted Texas an emergency stay lifting the Austin court's order. more ›

The state of Texas and multimillion dollar e-tailer Amazon.com have reached a deal to start collecting taxes on Amazon purchases in the Lone Star state. After hard negotiating on both sides which included Amazon shutting down a distribution center in Texas last year, a deal has finally been reached between the parties. more ›

Daily Show writers, start saving up those jokes. Still-Governor Rick Perry has promised to give a second run for the Presidency a "good examination." more ›

In a rather salty commentary piece, Austin American-Statesman writer Ken Herman lambastes the American public for not taking the hint: still-Governor Rick Perry isn't trying to be the president anymore. Ironically, the man who slipped countless political gaffes into a brief campaign has pulled in more votes since he left the campaign trail than when he was actively pursuing the presidency. more ›

The recent outcry over Texas women's access to healthcare is preceded by a long, sad history of de-prioritization and ignorance. Sadly, last week's news regarding the complete halt of federal funding for women's health programs in Texas was over-shadowed by SXSW, the ongoing race for the GOP candidate and a handful of other big noise news items. So what exactly happened? more ›

After still-Governor Rick Perry spent six months away from his office campaigning against a Socialist president, a treasonous Fed chairman, and uh... ummm... shoot, it escapes me, his own calendar shows he's only been to his office three times and spent less than three hours each time there since his meteoric flameout. What's he doing, growing a beard? more ›

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 ›