The team over at ProPublica has created a new news app called PAC Track that tracks Super PAC expenditures. The Make Us Great Again Super PAC has spent $3.8 million in support of Rick Perry. Endorse Liberty, the Ron Paul Super PAC, has spent nearly $3 million. Full Story
Four of the state's top officeholders each raised more than $1 million during the second half of 2011. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who is running for the U.S. Senate, raised $1.5 million for his federal campaign account during the fourth quarter alone. Full Story
The Republican primary may have engulfed the national political conversation, but as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, some young voters have only just begun to tune in. Full Story
Despite condemnation from Turkey's foreign ministry, Gov. Rick Perry today defended his description of the U.S. ally as a country under the rule of "Islamic terrorists." Full Story
During a question-and-answer session with voters in South Carolina, Gov. Rick Perry said he would eliminate the Small Business Administration, which provides loans, counseling and other assistance to small businesses. Full Story
While most of Monday night's Republican presidential debate featured the top-tier candidates sniping at each other, Gov. Rick Perry was just trying to stay relevant. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry's frenetic campaign schedule suggests he is not thinking much about the moment his presidential run will come to an end. But in an interview before a studio audience Monday in Myrtle Beach, Perry sounded somewhat less certain of victory and finally willing, perhaps, to look beyond a campaign that started off with such hope but quickly went off the rails. Full Story
Rick Perry, trying to rescue his presidential campaign in South Carolina, got some unwelcome news Saturday from back home, where influential evangelical leaders threw their support behind former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Full Story
Tan and Root on the Texas presidential candidates returning to the state where Rick Perry started his campaign, Philpott on Perry's swipes at Mitt Romney, Ramshaw on Griffin Perry's tweets, M. Smith on the next round of fights over student testing, E. Smith's TribLive interview with Michael Quinn Sullivan, yours truly on the sliding primary election calendar, Hamilton on higher-education efforts to bolster the Texas work force, Grissom's interview with John Raley, Galbraith on the greenhouse gas wars and Aguilar on making it easier for immigrants to return to the U.S.: The best of our best content from January 9 to 13, 2012. Full Story
A federal judge's decision not to allow Rick Perry and three other presidential candidates onto Virginia's GOP primary ballot "disenfranchises" the state's voters, Joe Nixon, the Texas governor's lead counsel, said Friday. Full Story
In a radio interview Friday morning, Rick Perry was asked again which federal departments he planned to shut down if elected president. This time he remembered to name three — but not the same three as before. Full Story
Rick Perry’s 28-year-old son, Griffin, has propelled himself into the headlines — and injected some much-needed energy into his father’s decidedly downtrodden candidacy — with his Twitter missives from the campaign trail. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry launched his campaign for president exactly five months ago in Charleston, S.C. Once a front-runner in the Palmetto State, Perry is now hoping for a comeback to get some much-needed momentum. Full Story
Online piracy is hurting the nation's economy and putting lives at risk, says U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith. He wrote the Stop Online Piracy Act to address the problem, but his bill has gotten the cold shoulder in his home state. Full Story
Despite poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign continues. Today, it released a new 60-second web ad emphasizing Perry's never-give-up attitude. Full Story