The Evening Brief: Oct. 7, 2013

New in The Texas Tribune

•    Wendy Davis Releases New Ad: "A Texas Story": "State Sen. Wendy Davis, the newly minted Democratic candidate for governor, has released her first web ad. The spot, titled 'A Texas Story,' is heavy on biography and hits the highlights of her legislative career."

•    Cornyn Ad Says He Brings "Texas Common Sense" to Washington: "In a new ad, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn's re-election campaign touts his record, saying he's 'conservative like Texas.'"

•    Patrick Ad: No Tuition Break for Undocumented Immigrants: "In the first television ad of his run for lieutenant governor, Republican Dan Patrick claims that he is the only candidate in the race who opposes in-state tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants."

•    Collier Ad Blasts Government as "The Circus You've Been Getting": "In his first web commercial, Democrat Mike Collier, who's running for comptroller, touts his business experience, says the current comptroller missed the mark by $12 billion and promises accurate revenue forecasts if he is elected."

•    Explanations Vary as Tutoring Program Falls Short of Expectations: "After hundreds of millions in federal dollars were spent on No Child Left Behind tutoring in Texas, it is difficult to find anyone willing to call the program an unqualified success. And there is disagreement on why the program didn't meet expectations."

•    TDCJ Refuses to Return Execution Drugs to Pharmacist: "Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials said Monday that they will not heed a request to return a supply of execution drugs from the pharmacist who sent them to the state."

•    Committee's Co-chairs Respond to Simpson's Concerns: "In a letter to state Rep. David Simpson, the co-chairs of the House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations wrote that if he wanted to attend the committee's executive sessions, he would need to take it up with the House parliamentarian."

Culled

•    Obamacare showdown in Texas (Politico): "The ground war over Obamacare — the one that will determine whether people sign up — will be won and lost in places like Texas. If Obamacare fails in the Lone Star State — that is, if a significant portion of the 6.1 million uninsured Texans don’t or can’t enroll — then the White House could miss its national enrollment targets, the new health insurance exchanges could falter and insurance rates could spike. Obamacare could be unsustainable."

•    Dallas DA accused of pushing prosecutors to run against judges (The Dallas Morning News): "Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins doesn’t yet have an opponent in next year’s Democratic primary. But that doesn’t mean his fingerprints won’t be all over the elections. At least six of his prosecutors — more than in recent memory — are running for state district judge benches. Five of them are challenging incumbent Democratic judges. A sixth was facing a longtime Democratic jurist until that judge, Susan Hawk, resigned last month to run for district attorney as a Republican."