LOCAL/NEWS

02/28/2010

U.S. Senate hopefuls in Texas raise money, wait for Hutchison
PASADENA, Texas – The Republican primary for governor that ends Tuesday – or in a runoff six weeks later – has eclipsed another contest for a prize just as big: an open U.S. Senate seat.

02/14/2010

Charlie Wilson served in a party-hard, work-hard time
WASHINGTON – In Charlie Wilson's heyday, it was possible for a congressman to cavort with playmates and dictators, snort cocaine, broker side deals with arms merchants, circumvent elements of the CIA and change the world.

02/07/2010

Social Security faces rocky political road
Beyond the thick curtain of finger-wagging last week over huge deficits and an unsustainable debt, a familiar battle resurfaced over the future of Social Security.

01/31/2010

Texas lawmakers balk at cutting manned spaceflight
Texas lawmakers in both parties are girding for battle with the Obama administration over the future of human spaceflight. Many of the same lawmakers routinely accuse the president of sending deficits into the stratosphere.

01/24/2010

Massachusetts victory raises GOP hopes
Was there an underdog on the ballot in Texas who looked at last week's Massachusetts miracle without a thrill? Taxachusetts, of all places – wellspring of Kennedys, Dukakis, Kerry – sending a Republican to the U.S. Senate.

01/10/2010

Texas Republicans in Congress can't coast to re-election this time
WASHINGTON – Few positions in America come with more job security than that of member of Congress.

01/03/2010

When Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison quits, expect a chain reaction
WASHINGTON – Here's a New Year's prediction: 2010 will be the Year of the Domino in Texas politics.

12/27/2009

Dallas Rep. Johnson doesn't buy colleagues' upbraiding of Obama
You can't please all of the people all of the time. It's a famous pearl of wisdom, variously credited to circus master P.T. Barnum or Abraham Lincoln. It would be fitting if Lincoln were the source, because he's a hero to the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., who has lately had his hands full fending off not just Republicans but also some of his most ardent supporters.

12/20/2009

Texas Watch: Congressional Hispanic Caucus' effort to advance immigration reform faces roadblocks
WASHINGTON – Immigrant advocates were pleased last week when the Congressional Hispanic Caucus unveiled an ambitious reform plan that would, among other things, create a pathway to citizenship for 12 million undocumented immigrants.

12/13/2009

Obama's Hanukkah party draws hoopla
Nearly eight in 10 Jewish voters supported President Barack Obama last year. That's a few million people, many of them in swing states such as Ohio and Florida.

12/06/2009

Obama takes flak for plan to build up, then draw down forces in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON – There were echoes of George W. Bush last week when President Barack Obama went to West Point and, before a sea of fresh-faced cadets, announced that he would quickly escalate the war in Afghanistan and then, a year later, begin to pull out U.S. troops.

11/22/2009

Combat zone designation for Fort Hood massacre transcends semantics
Twelve of the 13 casualties in the Fort Hood massacre were soldiers. But were they combatants, and was an Army post in the middle of Texas a combat zone?

11/15/2009

Time hasn't made immigration reform easier
Immigration, after 10 months on the president's back burner, got its very own trial balloon the other day.

11/01/2009

Hutchison irks right by including gay judge as U.S. attorney pick
WASHINGTON – Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has sent the White House two suggestions for the post of U.S. attorney in San Antonio. One of the candidates is a highly regarded career prosecutor and judge who also, it turns out, is openly gay.

10/25/2009

Hutchison absenteeism not much of an advantage to Perry
How important is good attendance? Rick Perry has made it a habit to ding Kay Bailey Hutchison each time she misses a vote in the Senate. He began back in February, months before she even had formally announced her campaign for governor, blasting her over a missed procedural vote on a stimulus plan.

10/18/2009

Obama can thank elder Bush for a good excuse to visit Texas
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – George W. Bush never went to Vermont as president. Eight years in office. Hit 49 other states. Skipped Vermont. Not a lot of fans there.

10/04/2009

Liberty Legal takes up cross for religion
WASHINGTON – In a remote corner of the Mojave Desert, there's a war memorial dating to the 1930s. On top, there's an 8-foot cross that is, for now, obscured by a plywood box lest anyone driving 900 miles out of their way happen upon it and take offense at the endorsement of religiosity on public land.

09/20/2009

Hutchison gains support in Congress for governor's bid
WASHINGTON – Nearly half the Texas Republicans in Congress support Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in her bid to oust Gov. Rick Perry.

09/15/2009

Quick Take: Fight over missed votes makes it harder for Hutchison to stay in the Senate
If it wasn’t ACORN, it would have been something else. The fact that the first Senate vote Kay Bailey Hutchison missed since entering the governor’s race happened to be on ACORN — a group Republicans love to hate — was just a bonus.

09/13/2009

Friction between Perry, Hutchison is nothing new
WASHINGTON – Sometimes you have to wonder how much Texas' governor and its senior senator could have accomplished if they'd managed to set aside rivalry and actually, you know, cooperated.

09/06/2009

Timeline is murky for Perry to call election to replace Hutchison in Senate
The death of Sen. Ted Kennedy has provided a fresh reminder that when a Senate seat comes open, two things are sure to happen: Ambitious politicians will scramble for a shot at a rare prize, and law books will get dusted off as state and party officials sort through the arcane and confusing rules.

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