Click on the chart to link to our latest multimedia project highlighting Perry’s record on health care in Texas and the plight of the state’s 6.2 million uninsured residents. Emily Ramshaw covers the Perry angle (for the Trib and the NY Times). Thanh Tan meets a Texan navigating through life without health insurance. Ryan Murphy offers two interactive charts to show us how many Texans have enrolled in Medicaid (previewed above) and the Children’s Health Insurance Program over the years.
Well, the rumor mill keeps churning. Wanna see how Perry, Romney and Christie compare on the issues? Check out this interactive chart by the Trib’s Becca Aaronson, Chris Chang, and Ben Hasson.
Perry has stumbled to second place in the latest Fox News poll. Romney takes the lead at 23%. Perry 19%. Cain 17%.
Earlier this week, the Trib’s Jay Root discussed why he’s surprised by the Texas governor’s sudden fall. He says Perry needs to recover from last week’s lackluster debate performance. Stat.
Thanks to Gov. Rick Perry, Karla Reséndiz was able to attend the University of Texas and pay in-state tuition rates — even though she is not a legal resident of Texas. Reséndiz and others like her are now the focus of a harsh political debate. And Perry finds himself is in an unusual position: facing attacks for being insufficiently hardline on illegal immigration.
Read the rest of Tribune Reporter Julian Aguilar’s story here.
Timothy Noah’s new blog post discusses the role that weight will play for candidates in the 2012 election. History shows us that the scale is tipped slightly in their favor.
Courtesy of the New York Times.
Might be time to leave this man alone.
Chris Christie swears up and down he is not running for president.
At the Reagan Library last night, where he delivered a speech on American exceptionalism, two audience members beseeched him to run. (Because his first question was about illegal immigration, Christie chuckled, “You folks are an incredible disappointment as an audience” for not asking him about his presidential aspirations right off the bat.)
In again deflecting presidential attention, he pointed the audience toward this video, put together by POLITICO, of him saying “No” to questions about whether he will run for president in about a dozen different interviews. As the Christian Science Monitor’s Linda Feldmann wrote yesterday, Christie’s coin of the political realm is authenticity, and saying “yes” after so pointedly saying “no” for so long would sacrifice a lot of that credibility.
Want more?
- Read Christie’s remarks, titled “Real American Exceptionalism,” as prepared for delivery.
- Explore whether this is Christie’s moment - and as Eminem said, he’d better never let it go.
For just $4,500, this amazing, six-foot-tall Rick Perry chia head can be YOURS!
“The bust was initially used by Dairy Waste Management, a company which manufactures Cow Wow, a liquid fertilizer made from dairy cow manure without the manure odor. Last year they commissioned busts of Perry and Bill White, former mayor of Houston and Perry’s opponent in the 2010 gubernatorial election. The “hair” of each candidate was ivy, and voters were asked to vote for their favorite hair (www.votecowwow.com). Nobody had to split hairs in that race – Bill White won by a landslide. Ivy can certainly level a playing scalp.
At last year’s ACL Festival in Austin, Rick’s larger-than-life head entertained thousands of concert-goers who kissed his cheeks, picked his nose and admired his ivy.”
The $4,500 includes a bottle of Cow Wow, btw. (via The Awl)
The newest issue of TNR is out!In our cover story, “What’s Driving Rick Perry?” (sub. req.) TNR Senior Editor Alec MacGillis describes what makes the Texas Governor a permanent candidate.
Excerpts from the piece include:“We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But, if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that.” - Governor Rick Perry, April 2009
“What the hell did I just do?” - Governor Rick Perry, after announcing his switch to the GOP in 1989.
“He understood where the state of Texas was going.” - Greg Hartman, former strategist
To read this article and more, including Timothy Noah’s TRB column on migrant teachers, Eliza Gray on super committee anxiety, and Leon Wieseltier on death penalty debates, make sure to check out the October 20th issue of The New Republic.
Rick Perry. Dancing with rabbis. About 4:55 into the video.
