Running Texas News Today

Here with us now, columnist gail collins. she is out with a new book, "as texas goes: how the lone star state hijacked the american agenda." i want to start with another "new york times" piece, though, the message from wisconsin its called, and it goes over the results of the recall election. it says mr. walkers campaign raised seven times as much money as mr. barretts, much of it in six-figure checks from some of the same business interests. the tactics worked in wisconsin, and in several other...

Produce these college graduates. they are coming in from illinois or new york or other places. and then texas tells the rest of the country, its very important to have incredibly low tax rates. which were sort of paying for because we are sending them our college graduates. im not saying thats a bad idea. im saying that when you look at the country as a whole, rather than as these little microcosms, you make different judgments about what its a good plan to do. if you have texas not spending any...

For the rest of us. >> what is it about texas? because there are california and new york who are essentially count countries unto themselves as well as far as population and economy. but what is it about texas? >> well, i grew up in ohio. and i think people in ohio are fond of ohio. but you dont run around in a t-shirt saying dont mess with ohio. you dont salute the ohio state flag in the morning when you go to school. >> where does that come from? >> its partly that they -- well, they were once...

Minnesota. its just a different thing. >> you look at the economic track record in texas. the job growth numbers are stunning. and its not just in oil and gas. its across the board. its tech. i was recently flying out of austin, texas, a few months ago and i opened up the paper, and ebay or pay pal was announcing a facility in texas. thousands of jobs. where these days do you read anything in the press about a company opening up a facility that will create thousands of jobs in the united states?...

Loan debacle in the 80s, that was based on a texas plan. you cant say that they were in charge of the reregulation, but certainly phil graham was right up front. no child left behind. all of our federal policies on education, all come from george w. bushs experiences in texas, running texas. energy, the environment. all of the land wars in my lifetime are under texas presidents. they have been running everything. why are they so unhappy? and it sort of all goes back to that states rights thing. ...

Gail collins, really a lot of fun in many ways. and lets look at an excerpt as well. and then well move on. the subtitle of the book, "how the lone star state hijacked the american agenda." policy works have always described texas as low tax, low service. while the state leaders like to brag about the first part, they dont generally broadcast the rest. there are no signs announcing, welcome to texas. you wont pay much, and youll get what you pay for. but its hardly a secret. uh-oh. all right. ke...

Sunshine. >> yeah. were looking ok, starting to turn the corner in the northeast after a very chilly start to the month of june. now well start warming things up a little bit, feeling in are like summer. getting some of that humidity back in the air. as far as travel trouble this morning, i-4 down in florida, not going to be an easy drive. heavy rain and thunderstorms around sarasota, sneaking up towards tampa. those will drift towards orlando through the morning. we had big thunderstorms around...

Was her interview on the "today" show the next morning, referred to crony capitalism. she introduced an issue that into the political mainstream political dialogue that has plagued perry and swirled around perry during each of his most recent gubernatorial campaigns. this is a charge that democrats have brought against him time and time again. theyve tried to get traction on it, but you know, there is, to some extent, in texas and in many southern states, this whole pay-to-play culture. and so i...

Would they say okay to that? >> well, look, its certainly an issue that, you know, taps into public revulsion with the way government does business. >> how can you do business when youve been selling government? >> look, youre writing ads for the democratic national committee if perry becomes the nominee, with lines like that. >> its a great way to make money. >> but there are some pretty eye-popping examples. and we picked out three, but theres like dozens of more. and im sure wayne can talk to...

Nearly $1 million in tax rebates for his company through an economic development board grant. well, there you have it. it looks to me like theres a pattern. weve seen this in cities in this country, a lot of big cities play this game. you give money to the politicians, you get what you want. developers do it, its crooked as hell. but when youre running for president, can you defend it? and is this going to be a part of this guys problems. >> one of the things that happened during the debate whic...