Free Republic

People talk about wanting to get the money out of politics, but fundraising totals can tell us a lot about who's hitting their stride and who will soon be hitting the bench. We are now within striking distance of November 2, so much so that Muse’s “Uprising” is my ringtone. “Rise up and take the power back/It’s time the fat cats had a heart attack … .”As we get down to the wire, polls matter, block walks matter, enthusiasm matters — and money matters. In fact, money tells us a lot about the health of a candidate and where he...

AUSTIN — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White has a message for President Barack Obama: Call me. Obama is scheduled to come to Texas for fundraisers on Aug. 9, but White has said he's too busy to meet with him. But the Democrat said he'd happily take a call from the president. "I'd be available to talk to the president, whoever the president of the United States is, at any time," White said on Friday. "I'm available to talk to anybody by telephone."

Democrat Bill White's campaign is encouraging Texas' arts crowd to focus on Republican Gov. Rick Perry. A supporter of the former Houston mayor is organizing independent filmmakers to show the short films they are making on behalf of his campaign, White spokesman Katy Bacon said Thursday. The films will premiere at an as-yet unscheduled White campaign event in Austin. The initiative came into the spotlight after Perry's campaign noted that a filmmaker advertised on an actors' website for a look-alike for Perry, the state's longest-serving governor who is known for his thick mane of hair. The impersonator would be cast...

A Houston husband-and-wife lawyer team is planning to donate more than $3 million this year toward knocking Republican Gov. Rick Perry out of office and helping Democrats win control of the Texas House. Attorney Steve Mostyn said Tuesday he and his wife, Amber Anderson, are committed to putting a "substantial" amount of money that likely will exceed $3 million into ending hard-right Republican politics in Texas government. The pair already has put $1.3 million into committees that can help Democrat and former Houston Mayor Bill White win the governor's office, making them far and away his biggest benefactors in this...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama plans fundraisers for fellow Democrats in Republican-controlled Texas, but his party's nominee for governor said Tuesday he would not join the event scheduled in the city that he used to run. Former Houston Mayor Bill White told The Associated Press that he couldn't block Obama from supporting his campaign .. also suggested that Obama's visit opens the door for Republican Gov. Rick Perry to continue running against Washington insiders — an unwelcomed distraction in the Democrats' best chance to win the governorship in years. ... White is hardly the first candidate to ditch an Obama...

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll shows Gov. Rick Perry leading Democrat Bill White 50 percent to 41 percent.

Gov. Rick Perry sounded some familiar themes in a speech today at the National Council of La Raza conference in San Antonio. Some of the governor's remarks were aimed at appealing to nearly 2,000 audience members who sat waiting to hear about his positions on immigration reform, Arizona's controversial law and raising the quality of life for Latinos. After hitting his typical points by touting job creation and the state's economic standing, Perry briefly touched on the new Arizona law that has been criticized by some who say it encourages racial profiling and discrimination. He said the law "may be...

Infamous Texas humorist, Jewish cowboy, and recent candidate for both Texas Governor and Agriculture Commissioner , Kinky Friedman, plans to make an official endorsement in the Governor’s race, according to a number of sources. During his political career, Friedman has campaigned as a Republican, Democrat and Independent, so this endorsement could finally shed a little light on where his true political motivations lie. Turns out it does, sort of. Kinky is forgoing the two top candidates in the governor's race to endorse Woodrow, a once-homeless rescue dog. The Woodrow for Texas Governor Campaign, united behind the motto "How Ruff Could...

In one of the most outrageous displays of arrogance by Washington in recent memory - which is saying a lot, of course - the House Democrats have inserted specific language on top of $10 Billion in funding for education included in a War Supplemental bill targeted directly and solely at Texas - language that demands the money be spent in certain ways. According to the Houston Chronicle, “The proposal would allow the federal government to give money directly to school districts, provided Perry certifies that the federal support will not replace the state money. Perry must also agree not to...

The Texas Democratic Party's executive director, Ruben Hernandez, has filed ethics complaints against Gov. Rick Perry over a house he bought in College Station. ..."For three years, the Governor failed to report over $200,000 in debt he owed on a house in College Station, as well as over $11,000 in rental income he received from the property," Hernandez said in a statement. Perry spokesman Mark Miner responded, "This is nothing more than a desperate attempt by the Democrat Party to cover for Bill White's ethical scandals, failure to release his tax returns and profiteering during Hurricane Rita when he was...

...District Judge John Dietz, declaring the money used to collect signatures "an unauthorized, illegal contribution," granted the Democratic Party a temporary restraining order to block Green Party candidates from being certified for the November ballot. Democrats contended that a petition drive to put Green candidates on the ballot was actually an effort to help Perry, a Republican, by diverting votes from his Democratic challenger Bill White... It had struggled earlier to get the required 43,991 petition signatures for its candidates to make the ballot. At a hearing Thursday, Green Party member Garrett Mize testified that Perry's former chief of staff,...

A new poll shows Gov. Rick Perry and Democratic challenger Bill White are tied in the race for Texas governor.Public Policy Polling polled the race 4 months ago, in that poll, former Houston Mayor Bill White was trailing behind Perry 48-42. The new poll now shows that White is tied with Perry 43-43.According to the poll only 36% of voters in the state like the job that Perry is doing while 49% disapprove.White is better known and like than most challengers, 37% of voters have a favorable opinion of him, 25% unfavorable.In most states, in this Republican election year, not...

...When his candidate for governor, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, fell to Gov. Rick Perry, he switched his support to Democrat Bill White. Madden is one of a number of former Hutchison supporters who have crossed parties to support the former Houston mayor, including Houstonians Matt Simmons, CEO of Simmons & Co. International, and James Flores, CEO of Plains Exploration & Production Co. In a Republican-red state like Texas, White has to lure crossover voters, big-ticket and otherwise, if he is to have any chance at all of defeating the longest-serving governor in Texas history, although wooing Republicans and independents...

The Democratic nominee for the Texas governor’s race, Bill White, continues his downward spiral in his campaign against Texas Governor Rick Perry, the Republican nominee. His sparsely-attended political gatherings are showing its effects on opinion polls. According to the Houston Chronicle, “a new Rasmussen Reports poll of Texans finds Texas Gov. Rick Perry with enough support to win the election for the first time this year. Former Houston Mayor Bill White in the meantime has lost ground, despite a round of television advertising.” Apparently, Mr. White is losing support in his home-base of Houston. The ‘Bill White Houston Political Machine’...

...Grand Prairie Mayor Charles England said in prepared remarks that White, who is running against Republican Gov. Rick Perry, would bring Texans together to tackle the state's budget problems. In accepting the endorsement, White criticized Perry, portraying him as a divisive partisan. “We have a governor right now that divides the state into red teams and plays them off each other for the purposes of his political career,” White said. Perry spokesman Mark Miner dismissed the endorsement, saying it would not “hide the fact that Bill White is a liberal trial lawyer.” Miner also said Perry would unveil endorsements in...

The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating a letter sent to Gov. Rick Perry as part of what's reported to be a nationwide effort by an anti-government group. The Associated Press reported that it obtained an internal intelligence note by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security saying that as of Wednesday, more than 30 governors had received letters saying if they don't leave office within three days they will be removed... DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said, "The governor did receive one of those letters, and the DPS has opened a criminal investigation." The agency isn't discussing the letter...

How best to keep Texas' border secure will always cause political fights, but you've got to wonder when a Democratic candidate for governor touts readier access to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security than the GOP incumbent asking for help... ...SMU political scientist Cal Jillson... “I think he (White) was trying to demonstrate that he would have far superior access than Perry does to Washington. But . . . the idea of (White) trying to take over the relationship with Washington at this point is bound to cause him more grief than otherwise.” As for Perry, Jillson said, “He simply...

Rasmussen Reports has a new feature tracking media reports on Republican Gov. Rick Perry and Democratic nominee former Houston Mayor Bill White... For the week ending Sunday, March 28, 2010, 79.5% of the media mentions for White were positive, and only 20.5% were negative. For Perry, during the same time frame, the coverage was far more mixed: 45.6% of the media mentions were positive, and 54.4% were negative. The details are not yet available, but Rasmussen plans next month to start breaking it down by reporting done by traditional media and by social networking. Since the left still dominates the...

FORT WORTH -- Hoping to fire up supporters as early voting in the gubernatorial race begins today, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison kicked off a "Declare Your Independence" tour Monday, encouraging Texas voters to declare their independence from Republican Gov. Rick Perry. Hutchison will be among several candidates casting their ballots today to bring attention to early voting. March 2, the date of the primary election, is also Texas' Independence Day. "I'm asking for your vote and I'm asking for your help," Hutchison told a crowd of more than 40 gathered in a back room at Billy Miner's Saloon in...

John David Wells, KLIF host of The Wells Report in DFW, discusses the Beck/Medina interview at 6:05 PM. Wells says he has new information to put the interview into perspective and put a whole new spin on it. Listen and watch live here: http://www.justin.tv/the_wells_report#r=-rid-&s=em