This will be a very interesting test. Perry is challenging the underlying rationale for debates, that they afford the American people a chance to see what the candidates believe and how they craft their arguments. Perry’s argument is that you can’t possibly explain your policy positions in the one minute
From Time: With less than three months before voting begins for the Republican presidential nomination, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is outpacing the GOP field in the first four primary states, according to a new CNN/TIME/ORC poll. Former pizza magnate Herman Cain is running second in each pivotal early
I sent the previous version to trash, will try to post again later this evening. The gist is, Romney leads Cain by double digits in New Hampshire and Florida, but Iowa and South Carolina are closer. Perry is at best middling in all four states.
Editor's Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog. Today we're featuring Scott Roberts, "north of 55," of
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we’re featuring Gary Vincek, 48, of Vincek's Smokehouse in
Actually, his biggest mistake was saying that debating was his biggest mistake. It says so much about who Rick Perry is–unsure of himself and afraid to face the public except in situations he controls, and yet arrogant at the same time. Doesn’t he realize that refusing to debate would have
Editor’s Note: Sweet Leaf’s contest is now over. The other contests mentioned are still on until October 29. Don’t have tickets to the TM BBQ Festival? This contest from festival sponsor Sweet Leaf just might be your last best hope. Check out the comments thread, where
Editor’s Note: Just five more days until the Texas Monthly BBQ Festival! As you surely know by now, we've been interviewing all the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we’re featuring Jeremiah McKenzie, 39, of Baby J's
Flickr/Sean Loyless Equipped with cash, personal utensils, and moist towelettes, a peaceable horde of eaters descended on the Gypsy Picnic Trailer Food Festival the minute the gates opened. Employing a divide-and-conquer approach, they dispersed to the forty or so trailers, only to return minutes (not
Editor's Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we'll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we're featuring Lou Lambert of
Rove is commenting on Fox News about the interivew of Perry in Parade magazine, in which Perry expresses doubts about whether Obama’s birth certificate is authentic: “You associate yourself with a nutty view like that, and you damage yourself. “And I know he went and he’s trying to cultivate —
Joe Allbaugh, who headed George W. Bush’s presidential campaign and served as director of FEMA in the Bush administration (pre-Katrina), will hold the title of Senior Adviser in the Perry campaign. He specifically did not want a title that suggested he was in charge of the campaign (although he is).
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we're featuring Gerald Birkelbach, 55, of
The web site politicalwire.com reports today that the Perry campaign has added three veteran Republican operatives to its campaign team: Curt Anderson, Nelson Warfield, and Tony Fabrizio. An advisor to Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) tells [Politico’s] Ben Smith that the Texas governor has reassembled the team that helped run
The web site politicalwire.com today refers to an interview with Parade magazine in which Perry ventures into new territory. Here is the key excerpt from the interview: Parade: Governor, do you believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States? Perry: I have no reason to think
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we bring you Nick Pencis of Stanley's Famous Pit
Enough of politics. Let’s get to the things that matter, namely, baseball. The New York Times published my article today on the long sufferings of Rangers fans. SLOWLY MAKING A NAME FOR THEMSELVES The lot of a Rangers fan has never been an easy one. Of all the teams
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we bring you Scott Morales, 45 and Vencil Mares, 87,
The Huffington Post web site noted yesterday that Rick Perry’s biggest career donor, Bob Perry, has not yet contributed to the governor’s presidential campaign. A likely reason is Rick Perry’s support for legislation that adversely impacts Latinos, such as Voter I.D. laws and sanctuary cities policies. Perry flip-flopped on
Famous authors and avid readers will take the place of liberals and conservatives this weekend at the Capitol during the Texas Book Festival. And for all you cookbook hoarders out there, you better start compressing the spines of the books on your cluttered shelves and
The Minneapolis StarTribune is reporting that Romney intends to make a push in the first state that will be selecting delegates in this election cycle. This seems high-risk to me, but not high-reward. The risk is that Cain continues to hold the lead in Iowa and Romney finds himself
Editor's Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we'll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we bring you Aaron Franklin, 33, of
Flickr/Sean Loyless Last year, a massive horde of foodies and families descended on Auditorium Shores for the first-annual Gypsy Picnic. This time around, festival organizers are making tweaks that they hope will ensure last year’s long lines and long waits remain a thing of the past.
To me, the most delicious part of the Texas Book Festival (Oct 22 & 23) is its great round-up of food-related talks and sessions and cooking demos. Rather than slog through the full schedule, focus on food with our easy guide. FOOD SESSIONS FOR SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011 Elizabeth
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog. Today we bring you Kerry Bexley, 44, of Snow's
NBC/Marist (Florida) Cain 32 Romney 31 Perry 8 Gingrich 6 Paul 5 NBC/Marist (South Carolina) Cain 30 Romney 26 Perry 9 Gingrich 6 Bachmann 5 Paul 5 (Both polls were taken before the Las Vegas debate)
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we bring youJoe Duncan, 61, of Baker's
He has only one option, to put all his eggs in the evangelicals’ basket. He has lost the tea party over immigration. He never had the business community; they belonged to Romney. The evangelical leaders are among the least-principled folks in politics, who have shown that they will not shrink
Readers may be interested in RedState’s post-debate commentary. Remember, RedState thought highly enough of Perry that it co-sponsored his announcement. Here is what one correspondent published: Cain wins Nevada GOP debate 3400 to 999, Perry loses cool Garden-gate attack on Mitt Romney and inappropriate show of temper may make Rick
If Rick Perry goes on to win the Republican nomination, the Las Vegas debate will be seen as the turning point. Perry wasn’t great, but he was good enough to get out of intensive care. He had a memorable in-your-face confrontation with Romney, and he recited enough talking points about
My position on the Constitutional Amendments proposed for November 8 follows. For a link to a more complete explanation of the amendments, click HERE. 1. The amendment authorizes the legislature to provide the surviving spouse of a 100 percent or totally disabled veteran with an exemption from ad valorem
All polling was conducted on 10/16/11. The samples are small; 505 registered likely primary voters in Florida; 422 in Iowa; 409 in New Hampshire. Florida Romney 32.6% Cain 30.2% Gingrich 11.7% Perry 2.9% Paul 2.7% Bachmann 1.6% Huntsman 0.2% New Hampshire Romney 38% Cain 24% Paul 11% Bachmann 5% Gingrich
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog. Today we bring youChad Decker, 38, of
A large pickup truck whizzed along Lamar St. (State Highway 70) in Sweetwater while we sat in the parking lot of Big Boy’s enjoying some smoked meats while my newborn son ate in the backseat. The scene was only worth a glance until a State Highway patrolman followed
David Frum has written several books about Republican politics, including, most notably, “Dead Right,” and posts on the Web site Frum Forum. What follows is a complete dismemberment of Perry’s numbers, assumptions, and general sloppiness about his jobs plan. Frum writes: About that Perry Jobs Plan The governor’s jobs
If this comes to pass, it will be a body blow to the Perry campaign, which has been counting heavily on South Carolina. Roll Call says both Romney and DeMint come from business backgrounds, giving Romney the inside track. A recent American Research Group poll showed Cain leading in the
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we bring youWayne Coleman, 43, of Coleman's in Clarksville.
What does Susan Combs do all day? The comptroller’s office has just been hit by its second terrible revelation in two years, a fraudulent scheme by an employee to direct $2 million in federal stimulus money to a wind energy company. What does comptroller Combs have to say about this?
I promised I would stop referring to her as “our little Jessica” when I learned that my youthful but quite esteemed colleague, Jessica Dupuy, was going to be the head honcho at a Texas wine dinner coming up at Café Modern, at the Modern Art Museum of Fort
Here are the key points in HuffPo’s analysis: * Perry is suffering from an inability to raise money from a broad base of supporters, usually measured by the number of small-dollar donors. Perry raised $13.4 million of his $17.2 million from donors giving between $2,500 and $5,000. * He
The Perry jobs plan is primarily restricted to the energy sector. This is very good for states that have ample reserves (Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Kansas) but not so good for states that don’t have oil and gas production. Oil and gas are fixed in
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we bring you Wayne Mueller, 46, of Louie Mueller
Ouch! Jennifer Rubin, who writes the Right Turn blog for The Washington Post, had little good to say about Rick and Anita Perry in observations posted yesterday. Here are some selections from her commentary: * The virtual unanimous opinion of media, Republican operatives and donors of Texas Gov. Rick
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we bring you Marco Oglesby, 30, of
[Posted by Erick Ericson] I realize this will get me locked in as a “Perry shill,” but the more I think about this race, the more I think Rick Perry still has one of the clearest paths to victory. Look at the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll. Pretty much every
It’s not the viewing audience that matters. It’s the conservative commentators who are watching the debate. They are widely read (and listened to) and they are opinion-makers. I was just surfing the Web the other day when I found a Politico article published after the September 11 debate. It
Cain 34% Romney 28% Gingrich 11% Perry 5% Ron Paul 3% Huntsman/Santorum/Roemer 1% Undecided 12% Sample: 600 telephone interviews of 574 likely Florida Republican primary voters and 26 independents. Date of survey: October 7-12, 2011 Margin of error: +/-4% I’m going to be very conservative about counting Perry out of
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we bring you Joe Arriago, 33 of
Not to wax nostalgic about the weather, but did anyone else get some ground-drenching rain this weekend? It fell at our house, where we took the opportunity to sit in the front porch, coffee mugs in hand, and watch it come down from the sky. But the rain, as magnificent
Perry’s behavior reminded me of his debate with Kay Bailey Hutchison and Debra Medina, back in 2010: He made it clear that he didn’t want to be there. He had no energy, no spark, and virtually no presence. His distaste for the process of debating was obvious. He recycled his