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  • Twenty Who Gave Plenty

    By Matt Stiles

    Houston homebuilder Bob Perry tops the list of the biggest donors to Texas candidates in the last half of 2009. McAllen developer Alonzo Cantu and Dallas businessman Ross Perot Sr. also gave large sums. Full Story 

    McAllen developer Alonzo Cantu, Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and Dallas businessman H. Ross Perot were among the largest donors to Texas candidates and officeholders during the second half of 2009, according to state campaign reports.

  • Primary Bloggers

    By Reeve Hamilton

    On Jan. 23, bloggers learned the tools of the trade at the Perry 2010 Blogger Summit featuring Andrew Breitbart, Gov. Rick Perry, and others. Full Story 

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    Credit: Reeve Hamilton

  • Spoiler Alert

    By Abby Rapoport

    What's it like to be a person who wages a no-win campaign but, by taking votes away, dooms the chances of one or more of the other candidates in the race? Mark White knows. Kinky Friedman knows. Debra Medina could soon find out. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmerich

  • Social Studies

    By Reeve Hamilton

    Thanks to sites like Facebook and Twitter, we know the elected officials who represent us better than ever — sometimes in weirdly intimate ways. You can find out that Dan Patrick had to put his dog down, that Wayne Christian is a fan of real estate wunderkind and reality TV star Chad Rogers, and that Bill White just finished listening to a book on tape. But woe to the pol who hasn't updated her status in a year. Full Story 

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  • Life of the Parties

    By Ross Ramsey

    Early voting in the Republican and Democratic primaries starts in three weeks, and the election is in five. While there are nearly 200 legislative races on the ballot, only a few are real contests. Here are the ones worth watching — as of now. Full Story 

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  • Guest Column: The 2010 Agenda: Water

    By Andrew Sansom

    The reality is that no matter how many new dams and wastewater treatment projects we build in Texas, the essential components of our hydrologic system are our watersheds and recharge zones. If we lose their vital functions, we won’t be able to build enough water infrastructure to meet our needs. Full Story 

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  • Corporate Politics

    By Ross Ramsey

    The U.S. Supreme Court freed corporations and unions from a century-old ban on political spending Thursday, ruling that restrictions on their electioneering expenditures violate their First Amendment Rights. Full Story 

  • 2010: Where's Matt?

    By Ross Ramsey

    Bill Flores, one of five Republicans who wants a crack at U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards in November, has hired infamous ex-Kay Bailey Hutchison spokesman Matt Mackowiak to run his campaign. Full Story 

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  • On the Records: Per-Capita Money Maps

    By Matt Stiles

    The governor's race candidates fill their campaign coffers disproportionately from some rural areas, according to a per-capita calculation. Each Dallas resident gave $1 to the race in 2009, for example, while those in Blanco donated $57. Full Story 

    Per-capita contributions to gubernatorial candidates in 2009.

  • 2010: Michael Williams Rails

    By Evan Smith

    ... against Washington, of course, and the less-than-resolute wing of his party: An interview with the Texas Railroad Commissioner, who'd like very much, thank you, to be the next Marco Rubio. Full Story 

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  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Hu explores on the schism between Bushworld and Perrywold and the increasingly curious question of what Debra Medina wants; Stiles goes all Shark Week on gubernatorial campaign finance, with searchable databases, bubble maps and word clouds; M. Smith on what happens if there's a GOP runoff; Rapoport on the sniping between Perry and KBH on transparency; Hamilton on KBH's abortion issue odyssey; Ramshaw exposes the disgracefully low percentage of state school employees who abuse or kill profoundly disabled Texans and are then prosecuted for their acts; Thevenot on higher ed's tuition time bomb; Aguilar on the Latino pay gap; Ramsey on Farouk Shami's "gift" to Hank Gilbert; Ramsey and Philpott on the the Supreme's Court's corporate campaign cash fallout; and E. Smith's interviews with House Speaker Joe Straus with retiring Republican state representative — and future Texas State chancellor? — Brian McCall. The best of our best from January 18 to 22, 2010. Full Story 

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