News & Politics
February 17, 2014
The Revolt Against Crony Capitalism
Rick Perry’s approach to economic development is being challenged by candidates from both parties. But history shows that Perry is only conducting business as usual.
Debra Medina
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Politics & Policy
February 7, 2014
Debra Medina’s Prospects
Can Debra Medina throw a monkey wrench into the race for comptroller? She doesn’t have the money to compete with the two leading candidates, Hegar and Hilderbran, but she has residual name I.D. and a loyal following left over from her 2010 race for governor. (See my colleague Erica Grieder’s
Politics & Policy
February 3, 2014
Grading the Candidates for Comptroller
The four contenders for the Republican primary met last week during the Texas Medical Association's Winter Conference. Did their proposals add up?
Politics & Policy
December 15, 2013
The Debra Medina Interview
The comptroller candidate was tea party when tea party wasn’t cool. Does she stand a chance in 2014?
Politics & Policy
January 21, 2013
The Great Campaigner
After eleven contested elections dating back three decades, Rick Perry remains undefeated. Is he brilliant? Lucky? Ruthless? We asked the people who know best—his vanquished opponents.
Politics & Policy
March 4, 2010
Last words about the GOP governor’s race
Perry’s decisive victory over a sitting United States Senator is going to propel him into national prominence. Republican power brokers will have to take notice of him as a potential presidential candidate, if they haven’t already done so. Who on the Republican side would make a better candidate? Mitt Romney
Politics & Policy
March 3, 2010
Bad day for conservatives: the anger that wasn’t there
This was supposed to be an unpredictable election due to the tea parties and the Medina candidacy. It was supposed to be an election in which angry conservatives rose up and smote incumbents. Nothing remotely like that occurred. Republican congressional candidates, who might have been tainted by Washingtonitis, won with
Politics & Policy
February 24, 2010
Rasmussen: 48-27-16 (9% undecided)
Perry creeps ever closer to the magic 50% that would enable him to win without a runoff—which the Perry camp expects him to do. Hutchison’s position appears to be hopeless, not that this is anything new, but it does raise the question of whether, if Perry comes in with just
Politics & Policy
February 23, 2010
New Public Policy Polling survey: 40/30/20 model
Perry 40% (39%) Hutchison 31% (28%) Medina 20% (24%) (numbers in parentheses = PPP 2/9 poll) N = 400 likely Republican primary voters MOE = +/- 4.9% These numbers seem intuitively correct. They suggest that Perry and Hutchison have beaten each other up enough that both are more or less
Politics & Policy
February 12, 2010
Perry far ahead in UT/Tribune poll
The numbers: Perry 45% Hutchison 21% Medina 19% Undecided 16% The poll surveyed 366 Republican primary voters and has a margin of error of +/- 5.12%. The Hutchison campaign will go down in Texas history as accomplishing the least with the most assets, personal and financial. (The closest contender: Claytie
Politics & Policy
February 11, 2010
Medina self-destructs on Glenn Beck radio show
Beck’s question was whether she is a 9/11 “truther”–that is, does she believe that the United States Government blew up the World Trade Center. “I don’t have all of the evidence,” was the best she could do. After Beck cut short the conversation and Medina was off the line,
Politics & Policy
February 10, 2010
Perry leads in Collin County poll
I don’t know the details of this poll, but here are the results. The sample was 300 Republican primary voters who said they would “definitely” vote or “likely” to vote: Perry 43.3 Medina 22.7 Hutchison 22.0 This is in Hutchison’s back yard of the Metroplex. I don’t see how she
Politics & Policy
February 9, 2010
Henson: PPP poll “within the range of plausibility”
I spoke with Jim Henson, co-founder of the University of Texas poll, and he said that the PPP poll was “within the range of plausibility.” Henson has charted all the polls in this race, and the PPP poll was not an outlier. He expects to have a UT/Texas Tribune poll
Politics & Policy
February 9, 2010
WATCH OUT FOR MEDINA!
Public Policy Polling has the governor’s race as a 15-point spread from top to bottom: Perry 39% (sound familiar?) Hutchison 28% Medina 24% Undecided 10% Rasmussen’s most recent poll: Perry 44% Hutchison 29% Medina 16% Anything can happen now. Medina’s support has grown by 50% since the Rasmussen poll even
Politics & Policy
February 3, 2010
Medina’s attack on Perry
Am I the last person in Texas to see this Medina campaign spot? Today is the first time I have seen it. It’s the most compelling campaign spot (if a six minutes and fifty-two seconds video can properly be described as a “spot”) that I have seen this entire campaign
Politics & Policy
February 2, 2010
Rasmussen: Perry 44, Hutchison 29, Medina 16
Perry gained 1 point since the previous poll. Hutchison lost 4 points. Medina gained 4 points. Hutchison now is lower in the polls (29) than Perry was (30) when she first announced that she would run for governor. Key stat: If voters maintain their current attitudes, Hutchison needs 50% of
Politics & Policy
February 2, 2010
What is Medina up to?
A couple of weeks ago I questioned in this space whether Medina might enter the Senate race if Hutchison resigns her seat after the primary or the runoff? Apparently someone else was thinking the same thing. The analysis that follows was sent to me by someone who is well known
Politics & Policy
January 29, 2010
Reporting the Belo Debate … Perry wins
On the air Perry looks more comfortable so far. First question, the corridor. Was it a mistake? Perry says, wasn't a mistake to have a vision. Blames governors who didn't do anything before him. We had to come up with a way to move people. He had a big smile,
Politics & Policy
January 28, 2010
Two more house district polls show Perry widening his lead
I received this information about polls that were taken in two House districts, HD 3 (Homer) and HD 47 (Bolton). The first poll is from HD 3. The pollster was Chris Wilson. Fair warning: Both polls were sent to me by a source close to the Perry campaign: Perry 47
Politics & Policy
January 20, 2010
A call from the Hutchison campaign
The call had to do with my post yesterday ("Was the Hutchison poll phony?") in which I expressed my concern about whether their poll, which the campaign has said showed them two points down, was on the level. Obviously, the campaign was none too happy about what I wrote, and
Politics & Policy
January 18, 2010
Rasmussen: Perry 43, Hutchison 33, Medina 12; some indications that Medina may be in the Belo debate
The poll surveyed 798 likely Republican primary voters. These results tracked a poll I wrote about last night: the leaders lost ground, Medina gained ground. The main difference is that the “undecideds” did not gain as much ground as they did in the unnamed poll that I reported on. The
Politics & Policy
January 17, 2010
Early post-debate polling: leaders lose ground
This report comes from a polling firm that did a post-debate survey of Republican primary voters. I am authorized to publish these numbers. I have no further information to provide other than what I am publishing here. –Perry and Hutchison lost support as a result of the debate. Perry fell
Politics & Policy
January 17, 2010
Perry must be worried…
…or else he would not have pulled the plug on the Governor’s Mansion addition. Perry has gotten himself out on a limb with all the bragging about Texas, and it may come back to haunt. Add up the boasts about how he balanced the budget (no mention of those stimulus
Politics & Policy
January 16, 2010
Medina and the sales tax
In my post after the debate, I wrote that Debra Medina, in advocating eliminating all property taxes and replacing them with the sales tax, had failed to address the issue of regressivity of the sales tax. That is not quite accurate. As a commenter pointed out, she did address it
Politics & Policy
January 15, 2010
And the winner is …
Maybe the question is: Was there a winner? Well, the format was a winner. The questions from viewers, from members of the audience, and from one panelist to another, made for a lively if not necessarily enlightening debate. Perry did a good job of repeating his major themes. He must
Politics & Policy
January 14, 2010
The Texas Gubernatorial Debate
First question, none of you like Washington, can you name a federal program that you like, one that you don't like. Hutchison and Perry argued over highway funding--are we getting back 76 cents per each dollar, Perry says 70 cents. Medina likes military but says the federal gov't is not
Politics & Policy
January 12, 2010
Questions for the Texas gubernatorial debate
Since I will be watching the debate on television Thursday night, I thought I might participate in spirit by suggesting some questions that my (not) fellow panelists might ask in my absence. Having participated in several pre-debate discussions at KERA, I don’t really think it matters who is on these
Politics & Policy
September 29, 2009
GOP gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina on Benkiser’s departure: Don’t let the door hit you on the way out
The resignation of Tina Benkiser from the Republican Party of Texas provides a great opportunity for Texas Republicans to begin to right the ship. While the proper purpose of a political party is to support its grassroots in making its platform a reality, grassroots activists in Texas have become acutely
Politics & Policy
September 21, 2009
The Medina Factor
I haven’t previously paid much attention to the candidacy of Debra Medina, of Wharton, for the Republican nomination for governor, but when the Rasmussen poll shows Hutchison ahead of Perry by 2% and Medina gets 3%, perhaps it’s time to pay attention. This race is fertile ground for a wild-card