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The Dallas Morning News announced Saturday it had chosen Gov. Rick Perry as the newspaper's annual "Texan of the Year" and recognized him for his "Texas tough-guy" image and firm grip on the state's highest office. Perry, the state's longest-serving governor, is the eighth recipient of the award. Last year, the heroes of the Fort Hood shootings were recognized. The newspaper said it selected Perry because he has become the quintessential Texas politician and face of the state. In 26 years in public office, he has never lost an election. In winning an unprecedented third full term as governor, Perry...

Hot off the heels of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s decisive victory over Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson for the Lone Star State’s GOP gubernatorial nomination, Daily Beast columnist Mark McKinnon thinks the governor is well-positioned for a bid at the presidency, or at least the VP slot: There’s a fight right now for the soul of the Republican Party. There’s a dominant and loud wing led by social ideologues like Sarah Palin, who endorsed Perry. But if she doesn’t run for president—and if she’s actually smart, she won’t because she’ll never wield as much power, influence, or money than she does...

FORT WORTH -- Marvin Bahnman doesn't like where the country is headed. He believes in small government, fiscal responsibility and conservatism. So he carried a sign that said "You can't fix stupid, but you can vote them out" outside the Cowtown Coliseum in the Stockyards, where a get-out-the-vote rally Saturday drew supporters of the Tea Party and 912 Fort Worth grassroots movements. "I'm not a Republican," said Bahnman, 74, of Fort Worth. "I am a conservative." Inside the coliseum, decorated with candidate signs, flags and balloons, dozens of candidates on the March 2 Republican primary ballot spoke to hundreds gathered...

Is Debra Medina the next Scott Brown? Nobody -- well, hardly anybody outside perhaps the Medina household -- expects the small business owner and anti-Washington crusader to be the next governor of Texas. Heck, until recently she wasn’t even much of a factor in the shoot-'em-up between the two leviathans of Lone Star politics, Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.Debra Medina Then again, up until a couple of weeks out, nobody thought Brown -- a little-known state senator and ex-Cosmo model -- stood much chance of swiping the Massachusetts Senate seat held for almost a quarter century by...

AUSTIN — Former Houston Mayor Bill White may be trailing all three Republican candidates for governor in a new survey, but a top Democratic consultant said it shows him as well-positioned to start the general election. The latest survey by the political newsletter Rasmussen Reports found White trailing Gov. Rick Perry 48 percent to 39 percent; U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, 49 percent to 36 percent; and activist Debra Medina, 41 percent to 38 percent. The survey of 1,000 likely Texas voters was conducted Monday. Democratic consultant Ed Martin said the poll results are good for White because he is...

Answering a call to help political ally Rudy Giuliani pump up his struggling presidential campaign, Gov. Rick Perry is jetting off to Florida, aides announced Saturday. It's a change in plans for the governor. A few days ago, Perry press secretary Robert Black said Perry would not make a swing through the Sunshine State because of scheduling conflicts. Perry "had tentatively planned to go to Florida this week for a couple of days, but we couldn't get the schedules to work out so he's not going," Black said Tuesday. But on the eve of the crucial primary, Black said Saturday,...

AUSTIN — A coalition of strip clubs has filed a lawsuit seeking to block a state law that would add a $5 surcharge for every strip club visitor. The new fee, which was approved this year by the Texas Legislature, is set to take effect on Jan. 1. It's expected to raise about $40 million to be dispersed for sexual assault prevention programs and health care for the uninsured. The Texas Entertainment Association and Karpod, Inc., the operator of an Amarillo club, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Travis County against Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and Comptroller Susan Combs. The...

AUSTIN – A property rights bill that went awry and a mandate for the Trans-Texas Corridor to follow the state's existing highway system were among the 49 bills that fell victim to Gov. Rick Perry's veto pen on Friday. Mr. Perry targeted at least two bills that he believed would open the courthouse doors to more litigation, including a bill that would have provided a greater balance in eminent domain proceedings. The bill spelled out what public land uses were acceptable in order to take private land and provided more recourse for land owners. But a provision tacked onto the...

The nation's transportation experts have identified their top three priorities: a national freight network, urban congestion and connecting new urban centers with the interstate system. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, meeting in national conference last month, heard futurists predict that the cost of meeting the transportation needs would be $3.1 trillion over the next 25 years. State and local governments are turning to "public-private partnerships," or PPPs, to produce the funding. The city of Chicago was happy to partner with a Spanish-Australian group that paid $1.83 billion for a 99-year lease to operate the Chicago Skyway....

I wonder how many people actually believe it when the governor's office says it was just a coincidence that the drug company Merck donated $5,000 to Rick Perry's campaign on the same day Perry's people discussed Merck's HPV vaccine. Hey, it could happen. Coincidences happen all the time, like when an 18-wheeler jackknifes on Interstate 35, and a traffic jam follows. Or, Dick Cheney shows up, and a protest breaks out. Or Christmas is coming comes, and Santa appears at the mall. Coincidence or not, what I can't figure out is why the governor only got $5,000. That's chicken...

AUSTIN, Texas - Some conservatives and parents’ rights groups worry that requiring girls to get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer would condone premarital sex and interfere with the way they raise their children. By using an executive order that bypassed the Legislature, Republican Gov. Rick Perry — himself a conservative — on Friday avoided such opposition, making Texas the first state to mandate that schoolgirls get vaccinated against the virus. Beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade will have to receive Gardasil, Merck & Co.’s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus,...

AUSTIN - Republican Gov. Rick Perry beat a unique set of challengers Tuesday for another term that could make him Texas' longest-serving governor as he presses priorities such as border security, strict state budgeting and an ambitious transportation plan. It was a less-than-cliff-hanging end to a race that started with a lot of potential for drama ? thanks to the entry of colorful independents Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn ? and ended with much of that potential unrealized. Early returns showed Perry ahead with about 40 percent of the vote, followed by Democrat Chris Bell, who had about 29...

(October 30, 2006)—The multi-billion-dollar Trans Texas Corridor will pump billions of dollars into the state’s economy and will create millions of jobs according to a new study by Waco-based economist Ray Perryman. Click Here To Read The Full Report In “Moving Into Prosperity: The Potential Impact of the Trans-Texas Corridor on Business Activity in Texas,” Perryman says the project will make the state’s economy more competitive. “Because the TTC enhances efficiency, improves logistics, and reduces transportation time and costs, it increases the ability of companies within the region to expand intrastate trade and operations, and, thus, increase market size and...

Incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Perry faces Democratic challengers Chris Bell and Independents Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn in the 2006 gubernatorial race. In the fourth part of News 8 Austin's five-part gubernatorial forum, the candidates discuss transportation and energy. Q: Now, let’s combine public transportation and developing renewable energy. What do you think we should be doing to make Texas the leader in the nation in these areas and why should Texans care about that? Strayhorn: Well, we certainly need every renewable energy and we need wind generation and we also need telecommuting. Fifteen percent of my employees are...

Two private-sector groups have submitted proposals to develop the Trans-Texas Corridor-69, a 600-mile thoroughfare that may wind around Lufkin and Nacogdoches one day. The bid process is part of the effort to create a public-private partnership that the Texas Department of Transportation says would speed the construction of "one of the state's priority transportation projects." Trans-Texas Corridor-69, if and when it is built, is expected to connect with Interstate 69, which will stretch from Canada to Mexico. The proposed Texas corridor would start in South Texas and pass Houston, Lufkin and Nacogdoches before hitting Texarkana and/or breaking off into Louisiana....

The governor's race is becoming a referendum on the Trans-Texas Corridor toll road. Republican incumbent Gov. Rick Perry supports the TTC that would parallel Interstate 35 from Laredo to Oklahoma. However, it could gobble up 81,000 acres of rural land according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Also, a large chunk of the land used would be in North Texas. Lance Haynes, a Republican, said he wonders if his family's 68 acres in rural Collin County might be covered in concrete in the near future. The land lies within the path where the state could route the TTC and he's...

Friedman leads field in individual donations; Perry holds cash lead AUSTIN (AP) - Comedic candidate Kinky Friedman has far and away the most individual donations in the governor's race this year, collecting campaign cash from thousands across Texas and across the country. Republican Gov. Rick Perry leads in total money, followed by independent Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn - both piling up millions of dollars and benefiting from some large contributions of $100,000 or more. With Perry and Strayhorn holding that strong financial advantage entering the Nov. 7 election, Friedman will be working to capitalize on what appears to be a...