El Paso and Hidalgo are the largest Latino-majority and Democratic-leaning counties in the state, and they rank near the bottom when you compare the size of their voting age population to the actual number of people who show up at the polls. Collin and Fort Bend are growing suburban counties with larger Anglo populations that tend to lean Republican and produce some of the highest turnouts of eligible voters anywhere in Texas. Guess which pair gets the most attention and has the most clout? Full Story
Ramshaw's question about an insurance company denying coverage for an infant vaccine prompts a reversal; Stiles' new app lets you poke through mid-year campaign reports on donations and spending; Ramsey finds foreshadowing of the state's big fall races in the campaign finance reports; Aguilar interviews Henry Cisneros about current politics; Dawson finds Texas environmentalists getting advice from an unexpected place; Galbraith on "demand response" that might cut the need for power plants and on the next wave of electric cars; Aguilar on increasing trade through Texas ports of entry; M. Smith on affirmative action battles in higher education; Titus on Mexican college students' drift from border universities to UT-Austin and Texas A&M; and Hamilton on controversy over private, for-profit colleges: The best of our best for the week of July 19 to 23, 2010. Full Story
Gubernatorial candidate Bill White may have more campaign cash on hand than Republican incumbent Gov. Rick Perry — but where it came from could hurt the former Houston mayor's campaign. That’s because nearly 25 percent of the donations since Feb. 20 — about $1.8 million — came from contributors in Washington, D.C. Full Story
See how much money state-level candidates raised, spent, borrowed and have on hand with our interactive list, which allows you to sort, filter and download their mid-year reports. Full Story
More than a dozen state officials have at least $1 million in campaign money — and many of them face nominal financial competition this fall. Full Story
The mid-year campaign finance reports reveal which races have the attention of the political players. They're a down-in-the-weeds look at where the fights will be this fall. Full Story
In this week's TribCast, Ross, Elise, Ben and Brandi discuss the issues framing Texas politics this week — education, immigration and campaign finance numbers. Full Story
Grissom, Hamilton, and Philpott on the Texas Democratic Party's state convention, the two-step, the forecast, and the ticket; Galbraith on the political and environmental battle between state and federal environmental regulators, and on a new age of nukes in Texas; Burnson on signs of the times in San Antonio; Ramshaw on hackers breaking into the state's confidential cancer database; Aguilar's interview with Katherine Glass, the Libertarian Party's nominee for governor; Acosta on efforts to stop 'Murderabilia' items that sell because of the association with killers; Ramshaw and the Houston Chronicle's Terri Langford on the criminal arrest records of workers in state-funded foster care centers; Hu on accusations that state Sunset examiners missed problems with workers compensation regulators because they didn't ask the right questions of the right people; Ramsey and Stiles on the rush to rake in campaign cash, and on political races that could be won or lost because of voter attraction to Libertarian candidates; and Aguilar's fresh take on South Texas' reputation for corruption. The best of our best from June 28 to July 3, 2010. Full Story
Tonight is the legally imposed reporting deadline for the next round of campaign finance reports, which is big deal for two reasons: Candidates want to show momentum and credibility at mid-year, and they love having an excuse to ask supporters to pony up before the clock strikes midnight. Hurry, hurry, hurry! Full Story
Texans for Public Justice, a nonprofit watchdog group, filed a complaint today urging the Texas Ethics Commission to require Gov. Rick Perry to provide detailed reports of campaign expenditures on the Governor's Mansion. Full Story
It's not only rich people and lobbyists and interest group activists who make political contributions. Texas congressional candidates gave at least $1.3 million to other campaigns and causes over the last 15 months, according to itemized records of campaign expenditures released for the first time by the Federal Election Commission. Topping the list of big spenders in the Texas delegation were U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Surfside, who contributed at least $240,000 — the highest dollar amount — and Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, who gave more than 60 contributions — the highest number. Search our database to see who gave what to whom. Full Story
On Tuesday, the Federal Election Commission for the first time released detailed records for all congressional candidates' campaign spending. These records tell us who the candidates hire for advertising, consulting, etc., and can often be more interesting to politics junkies than lists of campaign donations. We've made spending by the Texas delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives searchable. Full Story
Former employees of the Division of Workers' Compensation at the Texas Department of Insurance say their higher-ups have failed to sanction or remove dozens of physicians accused of fraudently overbilling and overtreating patients, costing insurers millions of dollars. The allegations of stalled enforcement action have sparked an inquiry by the State Auditor’s Office, records show. Full Story
The D.C.-based Texas Democratic Trust began as an attempt to revive flagging Democratic institutions in Texas and is now a critical source of funding for them and a host of consultants. That has made its director, Matt Angle, as powerful as most political bosses in other states. Maybe too powerful, his critics say. Full Story
In November 2007, when the presidential campaign of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Surfside, raised more than $4.2 million in a single day, the grassroots-fueled "money bomb" became part of the national political conversation. But while the tactic was in greater use this cycle, the underwhelming showing of candidates who employed it reveals its limitations. Full Story
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