Perry Up By 12 in Newspaper Poll

Gov. Rick Perry's lead over his Democratic challenger, Bill White, is now 12 points, according to the latest poll commissioned by the five big-city newspapers. Perry has the support of 49 percent of the 637 likely voters polled by the Blum & Weprin Associates firm from October 22 to 27. White received 37 percent, Deb Shafto of the Green Party got 3 percent and Libertarian Kathie Glass pulled 2 percent. Ten percent of respondents were undecided. (The perecentages add up to more than 100 percent due to rounding.) The newspaper poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.8 points.

Just as the poll's results were being posted and tweeted, another independent poll was released showing Perry with a 9 point lead over White. Public Policy Polling, which earlier this year showed the race tied, has Perry at 53 and White at 44 in its final poll of the general election cycle.

The most recent University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll showed Perry with a 10-point lead over White, 50 to 40.