Political junkies who have felt adrift since the end of the presidential campaign should make their way to Dallas this month, where three exhibits will help fill the void. At Southern Methodist University’s Bridwell Library until January 20, “From George to George: Presidential Elections in the United States From 1789
Senior editor Gary Cartwright on Norma McCorvey (a.k.a. Jane Roe) and how abortion has divided the country.
Senior editor Pamela Colloff on how cuts in the taxpayer-funded Children’s Health Insurance Program have resulted in a health care crisis.
San Antonio politics, it ain't what it used to be—which is why it could be time for a grown-up at city hall.
A year after state legislators kicked tens of thousands of children off the taxpayer-funded health insurance rolls, our biggest public-policy problem has reached crisis proportions. And the bleeding shows no signs of letting up.
How can I be a Christian and support legalized abortion? Tough question, but after weeks of soul- searching, I have an answer.
Or, if you prefer, why he didn’t lose.
Executive editor Mimi Swartz, who wrote this month’s cover story, “The Good Wife,” on biographers’ failure to capture Laura Bush.
Illustrator Steve Brodner discusses political satire and his new book, Freedom Fries.
“Texas is a huge, growing state on a border. We have some very basic issues that need addressing, and I don’t think they’re being addressed right now.”
. . . that the 1994 governor’s race would have such far-reaching consequences. If George W. Bush hadn’t won . . .
Hey, undecided voters: Time’s up. As unenthusiastic as you may be, you gotta go with one of these guys. Fortunately, we’re here to help you make up your mind.
How a woman who sold sex toys in Burleson became public enemy number one and survived the bad buzz.
This summer, Texas Democrats and Republicans traveled to Boston and New York to cheer and jeer alongside their party brethren. And we have the pictures to prove it.
The idea that U.S. policy bears an indelible made-in- Texas stamp is a rare point of bipartisan consensus. But there's nothing inherently Texan about the president's leadership style.
Why isn't the new Dallas Cowboys stadium going to be in, er, Dallas? Blame the collision of an irresistible force (Jerry Jones) with an immovable object (Laura Miller).
W. Marvin Watson talks about LBJ's greatest achievement as a politician and writing his book, Chief of Staff: Lyndon Johnson and His Presidency.
A few questions about polling.
Brandon Hughey didn't ask to be a celebrity. All the San Angeloborn soldier wanted was to avoid fighting what he considered an unjust war. So he fled to Canadaand now the private's every move is public.
The Democratic congressmen targeted by the GOP redistricting plan think they can survive.
Her mom dissed his dad. He defeated her mom. Now Cecile Richards is helping lead the charge to send himthat would be the president of the United Statesback to Texas. Nothing personal, mind you.
You probably know that Tom DeLay spearheaded the massive—and massively controversial— congressional redistricting effort that tied Texas legislators in knots for one regular and three special sessions. What you probably don’t know is how he did it. Herein lies a tale.
“Billy can go to a 7-Eleven and buy a soft drink and must pay sales tax, but Billy goes to school, buys a soft drink, and pays no sales tax.”
Associate editor John Spong on his twelve-step program for former congressman and wild man Charlie Wilson.
Racehorse Haynes is every year's model for what a successful trial lawyer should be.
Or maybe the grade should be “incomplete.” The special legislative session on school finance proved that Rick Perry and Republican lawmakers care a lot more about reducing property taxes than about improving public schools. Anybody surprised?
For the Republicans under investigation for campaign-finance violations, Sharpstown is the elephant in the room.
If you want to understand the shift in political power that has taken place in Texas over the past thirty years—from rural areas to the new suburbs, from Democratic control to Republican dominance—you'll hardly find a better case study than Tom DeLay's Sugar Land.
For Sharon Bush, membership in the world's most powerful family had its privileges. But as she discovered after her husband of 23 years—the brother of one president and the son of another—ended their marriage via e-mail, it can be revoked without warning.
The former national security chief and deputy CIA director on why we're losing the peace in Iraq and where the terrorists could strike next.
Senior executive editor Paul Burka on George W. Bush and this month's cover story, "The Man Who Isn't There."
Call it Perrymandering. Call it Tomfoolery. But whatever you call redistricting, call it successful (for now). And call the white Democrats dead.
You'd be one too if you were Carole Keeton Strayhorn and you thought the governor was messing with you.
For forty years Nellie Connally has been talking about that day, when she was in that car and saw that tragedy unfold. She’s still talking—and now she’s writing too.
This was the summer of George W. Bush's discontent, when sixteen specious words in the State of the Union address threw the White House into disarray. Can his 32-year-old mediameister, Dan Bartlett, get the message and the messenger back on track?
Some people carry a chip on their shoulder. Yvonne Davis carries the whole tree. So frequently does her participation in debate turn sour that the Capitol crowd refers to her as Whyvonne, as in, “Why is she acting like this?” Never was that question on more lips than in the
Two sessions ago Troy Fraser made the Worst list because of his propensity for snatching bills from other senators. We noted then that his ambition to handle major legislation exceeded his colleagues’ faith in his competence. Could this raucous kindergartner handle the difficult first-grade requirements: Wait your turn, don’t shove,
Would someone please give Tom DeLay a map? No, not a redistricting map. He has plenty of those. A road map. He’s a member of the House of Representatives, all right, but it’s the one in Congress, not the one on Congress Avenue. That didn’t stop him from trying to
The Best and the Worst Legislators story has always been about process—the sausage-making rather than the sausage. Ends are important, but what really matters are the means. Are members treated fairly by the leadership? Can they vote their conscience? Is the lobby in the driver’s seat? By these standards, Tom
He was the point man for the good guys on the most important issue of the session. He spent his days and nights fighting the bad guys, and it almost did him in. With the Legislature facing a $9.9 billion shortfall, it fell to Teel Bivins, the chairman of the
Steve Wolens isn’t much of a sports fan, so he isn’t likely to appreciate a baseball metaphor, but he seemed this session like a Hall of Famebound pitcher who has lost a little of his zest for the game. He still throws his fastball as hard as ever, but the
Robert Talton’s legislative program consists primarily of trying to enact his prejudices into law. He is far from the first to come to the House for such a purpose, but what sets him apart are the fury of his biases and the extremity of his remedies. Take, for example, his
Like the Good Samaritan who assisted the injured stranger, Robert Duncan couldn’t resist the call of friendless but worthy causes. If there was a difficult job that absolutely had to be performed, senators could always count on him to do the right thing (or, as he says in his West
Operating under enormous pressure all session, with Republicans and Democrats gearing up to run against him in his swing district, the 24-year-old UT law student amended the House tort-reform bill to require a medical-malpractice insurance-rate rollback and added a provision to the tuition-deregulation bill raising the amount to be set
“For Texans who’ve wondered whether there’s a politician walking the halls of the state Capitol who actually votes his or her conscience without first taking an opinion poll,” began a January 16 editorial in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “wonder no longer.” And who might that rare fellow be? Why, it’s
The lofty title Dean of the Texas Senate is bestowed each session on the senator with the longest tenure and carries with it the unspoken responsibility of protecting the chamber’s dignity and traditions. As with English kings, however, the line of succession does not always produce someone suited to the
Nobody bumped into more obstacles on his way to passing an important bill than the balding, bespectacled, Mr. Magoolike chairman of the House Insurance Committee, whose charge was to bring down homeowners’ rates without driving insurance companies out of Texas. It wasn’t going to be easy. First, a group of
In the different fates of Joe Nixon and Bill Ratliff lies a message about how politics works. Each is a Republican. Each worked hard on tort reform. Each guided a version of the bill through his chamber pretty much intact, without unwanted amendments. Yet Nixon is on the Worst list
As chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Jim Dunnam had the most difficult role in politics: leader of the opposition. You have to decide whether to work within the system, which was the course Republicans generally followed for the past quarter century, or whether to challenge, obstruct, delay, call out
If she had been nothing more than the first Hispanic woman elected to the Legislature, Irma Rangel would deserve her place in our political pantheon. But she was so much more. She was a mentor, a role model, and a lawmaker who in 1997 passed a bill that changed Texas:
