The latest politics news from The Texas Tribune.
The debate over whether job creation in Texas economy is a "mirage" or a "miracle" raises several questions: What jobs do Texans commonly hold right now? How much do those jobs pay? And what jobs is Texas creating? Full Story
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This weekend, the San Antonio physician and prolific donor to conservative candidates and causes hosts a Hill Country gathering for Gov. Rick Perry and some of his evangelical supporters. Who is Leininger? Here's a primer. Full Story
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Anne Heiligenstein, the commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services, is retiring from the agency after three years. Full Story
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It's a synergy thing. Super PACs can spend all they want to advance a candidate or cause, with certain limitations and — importantly — without talking to the candidate or the campaign. So here's Make Us Great Again, a new Perry-centric Super PAC releasing a poll of Iowa voters that shows — surprise — the governor doing well there. Full Story
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His supporters wouldn't necessarily agree, judging from our phone calls and emails, but our insiders think U.S. Rep. Ron Paul — the other Texan in the presidential race — is getting all the attention he deserves. More than a third, however, don't agree with that. Full Story
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Rick Perry leads the other Republican presidential candidates in Iowa, according to a new poll conducted for a Perry-favored Super PAC. Full Story
At this morning's meeting of the University of Texas System Board of Regents, Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa won unanimous approval for a plan addressing hot-button higher ed issues of the moment like productivity, efficiency and accountability. Full Story
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The latest Texas jobs numbers will be released today, and a positive report would bolster Gov. Rick Perry's economic message on the campaign trail. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports on the battle to define just how well the Texas economy is doing. Full Story
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In which we ask the insiders how the selection of a new lieutenant governor will go, if David Dewhurst moves on to another job after the 2012 elections. Full Story
As expected, state Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, will run for Congress next year instead of for re-election to the Texas Senate. State Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, may run for his Senate seat. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry likes to rail against the Obama administration's "failed" federal stimulus program, but he and state lawmakers have more than $17 billion in fed-stim dollars to thank for the last two balanced Texas budgets. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry is running for president. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is running for U.S. Senate. And it seems like everyone else in Texas politics is making plans based on one or both of those offices opening in 2012. What if they lose? Full Story
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We'll get to the details soon enough, but the headline is that our insiders think Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is the candidate to beat in next year's U.S. Senate race. Full Story
The insiders are more convinced that ever that Gov. Rick Perry will run for president. Full Story
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The state comptroller talks about the flip in her position on abortion, the data breach at her agency this spring, what office she might seek next and how all of the politics of those subjects mix. Full Story
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Two new political outfits, based in Austin and started by a former legislator who served with and worked for Gov. Rick Perry, will try to rally veterans to the governor's presidential race in Iowa and South Carolina. Full Story
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It's not that Tea Party self-identifiers have different positions on immigration than regular old Republicans. They just feel more strongly about it. Full Story
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Michael Williams, who jumped from the U.S. Senate race to the congressional race in the new CD-33 in North Texas, says he'll jump again: He's running for congress in CD-25, a district that stretches from Tarrant County all the way south to Hays County. Full Story
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Michael Williams might be on the move again, switching from a new Tarrant County-centered congressional district to one that starts on that county's southern edge and runs all the way south of Austin into Hays County. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry, taking flak from social conservatives, took a step back from his laissez-faire approach to New York’s gay marriage law on Thursday. Now he says it threatens the definition of marriage everywhere, including Texas. Full Story
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