Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of January 31, 2013. Give Chad your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11 am.

Cole Shooter, KFYO.com
Cole Shooter, KFYO.com
loading...

1. Big Government

The Lubbock City Council tonight will attempt to become parents. Tonight the council is expected to pass an ordinance that would ban the sale, use, and possession of synthetic drugs to anyone in Lubbock. Mayor Glen Robertson thinks the ordinance should only apply to minors, but he is only one vote and a voice that won't be there tonight.

This all started because of parent/advocate Gina Johnson approached the council with a story about how synthetic drugs effected her son. According to the Daily Toreador, she had no idea about the issue until her son started using and they started fighting.

“I’m still fighting with him on a daily basis, but I want to stop this before it gets any further,” she said. “People that don’t know that this is out there are still trying it, and they’re still having these massive effects. People that do know that it’s out there don’t know what these effects can be. They don’t know how severe it is.”

By the way, her son is an adult. He is 18 years old.

So let's turn to government to solve the problem, right? That's what many are doing, though I'm not sure everyone knows that her son is an adult. The thing we keep hearing from advocates is that the children must be protected. I agree, but Johnson's son is an adult.

Don't get me wrong, synthetic drugs are bad. Really bad. But what happened to personal responsibility? Why do we run to the government to protect us from ourselves. Sadly, the council will go with emotion instead of using their brains. They will vote to ban, and I'm sure as with all other drugs that are banned, we will never see them again.

2. A Deal Between Perry and Abbott? (link)

Has a deal been made between Governor Rick Perry and Texas AG Greg Abbott? According to WFAA in Dallas and Governor Rick Perry, the answer is yes. Perry told WFAA's Brad Watson yesterday that Abbott told Perry he won't run against him if Perry seeks reelection.

In an exclusive interview Wednesday, Gov. Rick Perry said Attorney General Greg Abbott has told him he won't run against him in next year's GOP primary should the incumbent seek reelection.

A spokesman for Abbott's campaign has yet to respond to questions about such a deal between the two Republican heavyweights of Texas politics and state government.

But if there is such an agreement, it means Perry has a smoother path to the GOP nomination and a fourth term. He is already the state's longest serving governor, having taken office in Dec. 2000.

Should Perry seek to defend his incumbency, Abbott may consider seeking another higher-profile office such as Lieutenant Governor, which would set up another possible battle royale against incumbent David Dewhurst, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and others.

Perry gave his State of the State address Tuesday at The Texas Capitol regarding issues like tax relief, water and transportation spending. The big political backdrop of what his plans are for re-election hung over it.

In an interview taped Wednesday for Inside Texas Politics following a speech at the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Perry gave his usual response: "In June, I'll be making an announcement on what I'm going to do."

But he revealed later to WFAA's Brad Watson and Gromer Jeffers of The Dallas Morning News that if he does run, Attorney General Greg Abbott won't run against him.

This is despite Abbott having $18 million campaign cash on hand compared to Perry’s $6 million. And even though a source confirmed to News 8 that Abbott has assured big donors he’ll run, the governor says he and the state’s top prosecutor have a deal.

"Greg is a dear friend," Perry said. "He has said clearly that if I ran again he's not going to be running against me. But that's beside the point."

Asked to clarify that Abbott told him he won't run if he does, Perry said, "We've had that conversation, yes."

Very, very interesting indeed. At this point, I think anything could happen. However, I am getting the feeling that Governor Perry will not seek reelection.

3. Polling (link)

Interesting poll numbers out of Texas show that Texans don't mind an assault weapons ban and also finds that most people have no clue what to think about Senator John Cornyn.

Texas voters don't like Barack Obama. 47% of voters approve of him to 51% who disapprove. 39% of them, including 67% of Republicans, would like to see him impeached from office.

Texas voters do like the NRA. 46% view it favorably to 40% with an unfavorable opinion. 47% of voters support its proposal to put armed police officers in every school in the country, to 39% who oppose it. Even 41% of Democrats support that initiative.

Overall on the issue of guns Texans say they trust the NRA over President Obama by a 47/43 margin.

And despite all of that 49% of Texas voters support an assault weapons ban to just 41% opposed to it. Most Democrats support it, independents favor it by a 53/34 margin, and even among Republicans 23% support it. We've found support for the assault weapons ban everywhere we've polled it, but it's particularly striking to see that voters favor it in a pro-gun, anti-Obama state like Texas.

10 years into his time in the US Senate, John Cornyn is still a blank slate to a surprisingly large percentage of Texas voters. They're closely divided on his job performance with 34% of voters approving of him and 36% disapproving, with 30% not having an opinion either way.

Those numbers don't really mean Cornyn is vulnerable. It's harder for a Senator in a big state like Texas to maintain a major statewide profile  than it is in most of the rest of the country. Cornyn's numbers are somewhat similar to what we found for Bill Nelson early in the 2012 election cycle, and he went on to win reelection by double digits anyway.

Nevertheless Democrats could be more competitive than usual if they put up a strong candidate against Cornyn. Bill White comes within 3 points in a hypothetical match up, 45/42. Cornyn leads Julian Castro by 7 points at 48/41, Annise Parker by 11 at 47/36, and Wendy Davis by 11 at 48/37.There's been some talk about a potential primary challenge to Cornyn, but his approval rating with Republican voters is a 57/15 spread. That doesn't suggest a lot of the party faithful are looking to replace him.

Lately there seems to be a lot of articles, mainly from liberal publications, claiming that Cornyn will have a primary challenger. Not sure I'm buying into that just yet. However, it does seem as though he is going along with Senator Ted Cruz on a few issues that I wouldn't have expected. Could be interesting to watch.

Other Top Stories:

These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.

More From News/Talk 95.1 & 790 KFYO