Free Republic

New state senator will be back up at bat again soon Thursday, February 19, 2004 Democrat Paul Sadler made up a lot of distance in Tuesday's runoff election in Senate District 1 in Northeast Texas, but he couldn't overcome former Tyler Mayor Kevin Eltife's huge lead in Tyler and Longview. With about 51.9 percent of the votes, Eltife won the remaining three years of the four-year term of former Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant. He quit in January. In the West Texas runoff, former Amarillo Mayor Kel Seliger's lead in the northern end of Senate District 31 more than offset...

Feb. 6, 2004, 9:48PM Giving a name to GOP primary politics By CLAY ROBISON Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle In the end, an important political race may be decided by something as simple (and potentially dangerous) as which of two common names -- Smith or Green -- sounds better to most Republican primary voters. For political insiders, however, the race between Texas Supreme Court Justice Steven Wayne Smith and challenger Paul Green offers an entertaining look at how Gov. Rick Perry is letting his pique at Smith put him at odds with leaders from the far-right wing of his own party,...

Following the leader? What leader? Thursday, September 25, 2003 The Democratic senators are back in the Capitol. But congressional redistricting isn't a done deal — this time because of the Republicans. They might have a tougher time agreeing on a map than they did getting the Democrats to return. Perry, who declined to call a special session after the Legislature couldn't agree on a map in 2001, could have escaped involvement had redistricting happened in the regular session last spring. But once House Democrats shut that down by heading to Oklahoma, Perry's job forced his involvement — if he considered...