Rick Perry has been governor of Texas since before I was old enough to vote. As a native Texan born in the millennial age, I put Rick Perry in the same category as a cassette player or an AOL subscription -- something that has seemingly always been around, but has...

Noodling. I've lived in Texas all my life and can say with certainty, and a small sense of pride, that before today I was unfamiliar with the act. Luckily Texas has an amazing education system called the Texas Legislature, which offers ample opportunity to broach important subjects such as transvaginal...

Texans -- specifically, female Texans -- have a whole lot of work to do.

That was all I could think tonight as I watched Holland Taylor portray Ann Richards in her production of "Ann: An Affectionate Portrait of Ann Richards" on Friday night at the Paramount Theater in Austin.

It'd...

Tony Martinez, who works in marketing for a produce company in a small town in the Rio Grande Valley called Edinburg, Texas, understands the significance of a powerful message. That's why it's unsurprising that he remembers what party-switcher Aaron Peña's yard signs used to say -- and the promise they...

If your election night party is held at an exotic game ranch in Texas, what does that say about you?

It says you go for the kill.

The Wrangler-wearin', coyote-cappin', budget-bustin' Governor we had last year, and the year before that, and the year before that and -- well, ...

If you're unemployed and you live in Texas - and at least 1 million of you out there - listen up. Governor Rick Perry has an important announcement for you:

"Being an unemployed person in Texas is the best state in the nation to not have a job in."

According Gallup polling available exclusively to The Daily Beast, Democrats are "losing support among white women" as the upcoming November mid-term elections approach. In her article, Linda Hirshman points out that "it's the independent women (21 percent!) and the Democratic women (24 percent) who aren't revved up about the...

After the recent dust-up over Rick Perry's men-only, $15,000 a head fundraiser, it's no secret that the Texas governor holds a special place in his heart for wealthy men. For a limited time only (offer expires November 3rd), Governor Perry is giving his best grassroots campaigners a chance to...

Guess who's not coming to dinner?

In an invitation circulating this week, Governor Rick Perry is inviting some of his closest, wealthiest friends to a "Wild Game" dinner in Houston--just not their wives.

The invitation from Perry's State Finance Chair James H. Lee boasts an all-male host committee and encourages...

Hey y'all. How's that day job going for you?

Yeah, I'm with you. The five-day work week is so done. Apparently Rick Perry agrees with you, because he's currently taking a summer vacation, celebrity-rehab-style, in Beverly Hills.

"Part-Time Perry," as the Bill White campaign and most...

"I'm on a horse." If you haven't heard that line yet, be prepared because you're about to. The Old Spice Superbowl commercial titled "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like," was a fast-paced, witty and steamy thirty-second spot that engaged both male and female viewers. In other words, it was

BP's wells aren't the only things failing around Texas these days.

Education is quickly draining out of Texas classrooms, and as the oil spill made its way onto Texas beaches this weekend, word of the brain-drain that is our State Board of Education has most certainly gotten out. The spoof...

Everything's bigger in Texas, right?

Well, Texas Governor and self-proclaimed conservative Rick Perry, who was re-elected with just 39% of the vote in 2006, seems to think that applies to his rent check.

While asking state agencies to cut their budgets, Governor Perry has spent over $500,000 worth of...

It's hard not to look at the black gold seeping across the Gulf of Mexico as an allegory of the sinking, gruesome Republican Party, in Texas and across the United States.

As Sarah Palin arrived in Austin, no doubt ready to rant against the socialists who are now tasked with...

Times have changed. Even in Texas, for as dumb as we may seem to the more civilized parts of America, you can't win elections anymore by merely promising to fill the potholes or time the traffic lights. For one Texas State Senator from Austin, perhaps best known nationally for a...

Pop quiz:

Who has better hair than Sarah Palin, also seems to believe their proximity to another country makes them qualified to run a country and who, judging by the amount of untrue and contradictory statements they've said on the issue, might have a "secret plan" written on the palm...

The Austin-American Statesman ran a full-color review of the new Molly Ivins biography, Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life, by Bill Minutaglio and W. Michael Smith, today. I picked up a copy of the book at the Texas Book Festival a few weeks ago, where I...

Last Monday, I had the opportunity to go to the fifth annual fundraiser luncheon in Dallas for Annie's List, an organization that raises money and provides resources for progressive female candidates in the state of Texas. Donna Brazile, a woman whose cadence often makes me feel like I'm living...

Last Friday morning when I woke up, the last thing I expected to do was see President Obama speak later that afternoon. But a text from a friend who had secured tickets from Obama For America organizers changed my days' plans, and by noon I was on the road to...

You know those billboards you see on the side of freeways advertising new subdivisions built in rural areas outside of town? "If you lived here, you'd be home by now."

Someone needs to throw up a similar one next to the "Welcome to Texas" signs you hit when coming in...