In this MegaVote for Texas’ 30th Congressional District:

Recent Congressional Votes

• Senate: M. Patricia Smith, of New York, to be Solicitor for the Department of Labor
• House: Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act

Upcoming Congressional Bills

• House: Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act
• House: Intelligence Authorization Act, FY2010

M. Patricia Smith, of New York, to be Solicitor for the Department of Labor – Vote Confirmed (60-37, 3 Not Voting)

The Senate confirmed Patricia Smith to be the Labor Department’s solicitor, despite concerns that she gave contradictory statements during her confirmation hearing.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison voted Not Voting……send e-mail or see bio
Sen. John Cornyn voted NO……send e-mail or see bio

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Recent House Votes Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act – Vote Passed (233-187, 14 Not Voting)

The House passed this bill that would raise the federal debt limit to $13.029 trillion and enact pay-as-you-go budget enforcement rules aimed at cutting the government’s deficit. It now goes to the president for his signature.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson voted YES……send e-mail or see bio

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Upcoming Votes Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act – H.R.__

House is expected to vote on a bill that would lift the health insurance antitrust exemption.

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Intelligence Authorization Act, FY2010 – H.R.2701

The House is also likely to vote on the stalled fiscal 2010 intelligence authorization bill.

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Since I’m a SMU grad and I’m very disappointed in these ratings. I expected students at my Alma mater to recognize true liberty… Debra Medina is the ONLY choice, and owned the other 2 in the debates! What’s going on since I left?

By Elisabeth Brubaker
ebrubake@smu.edu

SMU Professor Dr. Rita Kirk held a focus group in Umphrey Lee Friday night to study the Republican reaction to the Belo debate. Kirk recruited 30 Republicans- both first time and repeat voters to participate in the focus group during the GOP Debate.

Kirk has been doing research for over 20 years. CNN first hired Kirk for the debates during the presidential election primaries. This past weekend she brought her research back to the Hilltop only one day after going to Ohio to dial test the President’s State of the Union address.

The focus groups are used to “dial test” a particular speech or event. Each participant is given a dial to record their perceptions of the candidates (or the President) at any moment throughout the speech or debate.

Kirk loves analyzing the data afterwards. During the candidates’ closing statements Kirk was able to see who did the best overall. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison had the highest rating with 73 out of 100. Governor Rick Perry got a 67 and Debra Medina got a 63.

Some participants offered their opinions of the dial testing and candidates after the debate. Watch the videos for their reactions.

(Editor’s note: Elisabeth Brubaker is a student assistant for Dr. Kirk’s research study.)

One participant said this about the “jeopardy” portion of the debate:

Another participant discussed how she reads the candidates.

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DALLAS—An obscure candidate with backing from the “tea party” movement threatens to deny a decisive victory to either Texas Gov. Rick Perry or Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the battle for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Texas.

Little-known Debra Medina made a splash two weeks ago in a televised debate. She criticized the governor for “painting a rosy picture that doesn’t exist” about the Texas economy and said her rivals’ “squabbling isn’t getting us anywhere.”

Mrs. Medina “stole the show,” said Harvey Kronberg, longtime editor of the Quorum Report newsletter in Austin.

Associated Press

Debra Medina

On Friday night, Mrs. Medina will try to prove that her debate showing was no fluke.

A nurse and former Republican Party leader in Wharton County, in south Texas, Mrs. Medina is running on a platform of small government, states’ rights, and the elimination of property taxes and gun-registration laws.

While she appeals to many of the same primary voters as Mr. Perry, she has been trying to tap into Texans‘ anti-incumbent fervor. Mr. Perry has been governor since 2000 and is seeking a third full term; Ms. Hutchison has served in Washington since 1993.

The winner of the March 2 primary is likely to face Bill White, the Democratic former mayor of Houston, in November.

A Rasmussen Reports poll of 831 likely Republican voters, taken three days after the Jan. 14 debate, gave Mrs. Medina 12% support, a jump from the 4% or so she had in earlier surveys. She appeared to have drawn new backing from undecided voters as well as from the Perry and Hutchison camps.

To be sure, Mrs. Medina remained far below Mr. Perry’s 43% and Ms. Hutchison’s 33% voter backing.

And though she has raised $100,000 since the Jan. 14 debate, according to her staff, bringing her total to more than $360,000, the establishment candidates have raised millions of dollars and have already started funding ad campaigns.

They also outpace her on the endorsement front. Sarah Palin is slated to campaign for Mr. Perry in Houston on Feb. 7, and last week former President George H.W. Bush came out for Ms. Hutchison.

Mrs. Medina said her goal was to win the primary, and that victory wasn’t out of reach. “I believe we are fighting the very same battle the Founding Fathers fought,” she said.

View Full Image

Associated Press

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, left, and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison last week

Her current level of support wouldn’t be enough to win her a place on the November ballot, but it could keep the other candidates from receiving the 51% of the vote needed to avoid an April runoff.

“As long as Medina is in double figures, you have to figure that a runoff is pretty imminent,” said James R. Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project, a program at the University of Texas in Austin that does nonpartisan polling and research.

Spokeswomen for the Perry and Hutchison campaigns predicted their candidates would win outright on March 2.

Mrs. Medina is critical of both Mr. Perry and Ms. Hutchison, calling them “two sides of the same coin.” But she has reserved some of her sharpest jabs for the governor, whom she described in an interview as the “jumpy, fidgety frat boy sitting on stage with me two weeks ago.”

In response to Mrs. Medina’s remark, Catherine Frazier, a spokesman for the governor, said: “Under Gov. Perry’s leadership, Texas is the strongest state in the nation. If that is what she thinks about where Texas is headed, that’s unfortunate.”

Dr. Henson of the Texas Politics Project was among the political mavens who thought Mr. Perry would prevail in a runoff, because he was most likely to capture Mrs. Medina’s voters.

But others thought Ms. Hutchison would benefit from the extra campaign time a runoff would afford and from Mrs. Medina’s attacks on the governor, which the senator encouraged during the first debate.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more fire coming in from Gov. Perry in the direction of Debra Medina,” said Ken Emanuelson, a leader of the tea-party movement in Dallas, which worked to ensure that she was included in both debates.

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AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry is far from having the Republican gubernatorial nomination sewn up, but a new poll indicates U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is in danger of having the bottom fall out of her campaign.

The political newsletter Rasmussen Reports released a survey of likely Republican primary voters showing Perry leading 44 percent to Hutchison’s 29 percent, with activist Debra Medina following at 16 percent.

Medina’s support has grown from the 12 percent she held in January, and the

publication said most of her gain appeared to be coming from Hutchison. Both of Medina’s gains in the polls occurred shortly after her participation in debates with Perry and Hutchison.

“Now that the people of Texas are watching and listening, we expect to accelerate drastically this next month in the polls,” Medina campaign manager Penny Langford Freeman said in a statement.

But without financial resources to keep her campaign on television with paid advertising, Medina is likely to fade between now and the March 2 election. A Texas Ethics Commission report filed this week showed Medina had just $68,483 available on Jan. 21.

War chests nearly equal

Perry and Hutchison had enough cash on hand to spend about $2 million a week. Perry pulled slightly ahead of Hutchison for the first time, reporting $10.4 million in the bank to her $10 million.

In the Rasmussen survey, Perry led among conservative Republicans by 18 percentage points, and Hutchison led by 11 percentage points among party moderates. Conservatives tend to dominate party primaries. Rasmussen said for Hutchison to win with current voter attitudes, half the primary voters would have to be moderates.

Both Perry and Hutchison’s spokespeople said the only poll they rely on is the one conducted on Election Day.

“The governor is going to continue traveling the state talking about his conservative record and his vision of the future,” said Perry spokesman Mark Miner.

Hutchison spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said Hutchison will continue to promote a “positive vision” for the state, but she said the poll also had bad news for Perry.

“It should be very troubling to a nine-year incumbent that he can’t get over 44 percent,” Baker said.

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