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Houston, Texas, Mayor Bill White said Monday he will announce within a week after the Thanksgiving holiday whether he will run for governor.

(CNN) - Houston, Texas, Mayor Bill White said Monday he will announce within a week after the Thanksgiving holiday whether he will run for governor.

"I agree to consider running for that office, and will make a decision by Friday, December 4," the Democrat told reporters in Austin, the state capital.

He invited Texans to weigh in on the question by e-mailing him at billwhite@billwhitefortexas.com. "I think it's best that I listen to people and then make a decision and move on from there," he said.

White's announcement came shortly after candidate Tom Schieffer said he is dropping out of the race for the Democratic nomination and urged that White seek the job instead. Schieffer and his campaign co-chairman, Lyndon Olson, met Sunday with White, the Austin American reported Monday.
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(CNN) – Dick Cheney's decision to weigh in on the Republican intra-party battle in Texas - a rare primary season endorsement by the former vice president - is an attempt to help challenger Kay Bailey Hutchison shore up her conservative credentials and attract undecided GOP voters, according to two knowledgeable GOP sources.

The former vice president teamed up with Hutchinson in Houston Tuesday to officially endorse her gubernatorial bid. The Texas senator is taking on two-term incumbent Gov. Rick Perry in next year's Republican primary.

One source notes that Cheney and Hutchison have a longstanding relationship that goes back to the days when they were both in Dallas, a time when Cheney served as Halliburton CEO.

The political calculation behind Tuesday's move is the hope that Cheney can help the senator win over undecided Republican voters in a state where the Bush administration's seal of approval may hold more sway than anywhere else. "The two most popular people in Texas are George and Barbara Bush - and Cheney isn't far behind," says one source close to Texas politics.

Perry, according to his campaign, has already won a re-election nod from the person who had hoped to succeed Cheney - Sarah Palin.

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Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is running for governor in Texas.

Story updated below with Hutchison's remarks as prepared for delivery on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who previously said she would resign her seat to run for governor, will announce Saturday she will remain in the Senate as she seeks the Republican Party’s gubernatorial nomination, a Hutchison aide tells CNN.

"She will announce tomorrow at the Texas Federation of Republican Women’s Convention in Galveston that she will not be resigning her seat before the primary,” said the aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “She is running for governor because she feels it is important to fight on two fronts, for the race for governor and against the Democratic health care proposal and cap and trade.”

In July, Hutchison told Dallas radio station WBAP that she planned to leave the Senate in the fall.

"Then the actual leaving of the Senate will be sometime — October, November — that, in that time frame," she said.

The aide said that Hutchison “plans to resign” her Senate seat “after the primary,” which the aide noted she will win. The aide brushed off the question of whether she would quit if she ends up losing the primary to Gov. Rick Perry.

A Perry spokesman quickly responded to the latest news in what has been a contentious primary battle.

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(CNN) - Before making judgments about the shootings at Fort Hood, a thorough investigation needs to take place, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said Thursday.

"It is imperative that we take the time to gather all the facts, as it would be irresponsible to be the source of rumors or inaccurate information regarding such a horrific event," Cornyn said in a statement.

"Once we have ascertained all the facts, working with our military leaders and law enforcement officials on the ground, we can determine what exactly happened at Fort Hood today and how to prevent something like this from ever happening again," he said.

Full story

Related: Twelve killed in Fort Hood shootings, suspect alive, officials say

Related: Picture begins to emerge of Fort Hood suspect

Former Vice President Dick Cheney will endorse Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for governor.

(CNN) - Two-term Texas Gov. Rick Perry has already gotten a re-election nod from Sarah Palin, last year's GOP vice presidential nominee. Now primary rival Kay Bailey Hutchison is snagging the endorsement of the man Palin was running to replace.

The Hutchison campaign confirmed Wednesday that former Vice President Dick Cheney - whose low approval ratings might mark him a political liability in most other parts of the country - is endorsing Hutchison's bid, and will raise money for her in Houston on Nov. 17.

Hutchison, who has said she plans to resign her Senate seat but hasn't yet revealed when that might occur, is planning to challenge Perry in next year's Republican primary.

Palin will hit the campaign trail for Rick Perry.

(CNN) - Here's one place where a Sarah Palin campaign appearance is welcome: Texas.

Republican gubernatorial campaigns in Virginia and New Jersey are giving Palin the cold shoulder out of fear that she might alienate independent voters.

But it's a very different story in the Texas Republican gubernatorial primary, a conservative slugfest between Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Palin will campaign for Perry sometime next year, according to his campaign, but the dates are still being finalized. Palin endorsed the Texas governor's re-election bid earlier this year.

"She will be coming here to campaign sometime after the first of the year once she is done with her book tour," said Perry spokesman Mark Miner.

Palin's spokesman Meg Stapleton did not respond to inquiries seeking to confirm the visit.

After Palin resigned in July, Perry said he was proud to have Palin's support and boasted that she was planning to come to Texas to campaign for him. "If there's a bigger endorsement in the Republican universe, I don't know who it is than Sarah," he said at the time.

Hutchison spokesman Jeff Sadosky said both candidates will have high-profile conservatives campaigning for them as the race heads down the final stretch.

Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has formally announced her bid for governor of Texas.

(CNN) - Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison formally announced her bid for Texas governor Monday morning, challenging fellow Republican and incumbent Rick Perry and sparking what could be a bitter intra-party fight in the Lone Star State.

"It is with pride and humility for history that I announce today that I am a candidate for Governor of Texas," Hutchison said in remarks prepared for delivery in La Marque, Texas. The town will be her first stop in a five-day, 19-stop "Texas Can Do Better" tour.

The four-term senator graduated from high school in La Marque in 1961.

"Let me start by saying this about Rick Perry. He's a dedicated public servant. I know he loves Texas. But now he's trying to stay too long - 14 years, maybe longer," said Hutchison.

Perry took over as Texas governor in late 2000, after then-Gov. George W. Bush stepped down to serve as president. Perry won election to a full term in 2002, and was re-elected four years later.

Hutchison says she'll give up her Senate seat later this year to focus solely on the governor's race.

–CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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Vice President Biden joked while speaking at a Democratic fundraiser.

(CNN) - Vice President Biden decided Tuesday to mess with Texas.

"You Texas guys are ugly as hell, but your women are beautiful," Biden joked while speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in Austin. "In southern Delaware, they would say y'all married up."

Biden, in Austin to visit the city's National Domestic Violence Hotline, poked more fun at the state as he accused Texas of being "the only place I know that turns a river into a lake," a reference to the Colorado River and the dams that have been built to protect the city from flooding.

The President and First Lady will attend a welcome home event in Midland, Texas on Inauguration Day.

(CNN) –- The White House said Wednesday President Bush will go directly to Midland, Texas after leaving Washington on Inauguration Day.
 
White House spokesperson Dana Perino said the President and First Lady Laura Bush will leave Andrews Air Force Base, and fly to Midland for a “welcome home event” in Centennial Plaza on the town square. They will fly on one of the jets he used as Air Force One during his presidency, though it will have a different designation that day.
 
Midland was the site of his send-off rally when he left for Washington before taking office in January 2001. The president lived in Midland as he was growing up, and it is the first lady’s hometown.  
 
The President and Mrs. Bush will then fly to Waco, and go to their ranch in Crawford for the first night after leaving the White House.

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison launched an exploratory committee Thursday for a 2010 gubernatorial run.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison took steps Thursday to run for governor in 2010, a move that could set up a fierce primary battle with the state's current governor.

"Texans deserve a Governor who, in the context of sound budgetary policies and low taxes, works for quality schools and universities, access to health care for our families, communities safe from crime and drugs, protection of private property rights, sensible transportation and a government that listens and responds to them," Hutchison said in a paper statement. "There's too much bitterness, too much anger, too little trust, too little consensus and too much infighting. And the tone comes from the top. Texans are looking for leadership and results."

Governor Rick Perry said in April he would run for a third term.

Papers to form Hutchison's exploratory committee were filed Thursday in Austin. In her statement, the Texas senior senator stressed she was "not yet a candidate" as there were "friends, community and business leaders" that she wanted to consult with before formally announcing her candidacy. Hutchison, who was re-elected to her Senate seat in 2006, did not indicate whether or not she would resign should she pursue a gubernatorial bid.

A caller to CNN's voter hotline reported that his mother had difficulty accurately casting her ballot on a touch screen like the one pictured here.

(CNN) – Voters this election cycle are braving many challenges. Lines have been long for early voting in some states, some voters face rigorous identification standards, and there’s even a dress code for voters in some states.

Being certain your vote is accurately recorded is the final hurdle to participating in what is shaping up to be an unprecedented level of voter interest and turnout in the presidential election; some callers to CNN’s voter hotline are reporting problems with this important final step in the voting process.

A caller from Beaumont, Texas reports that his mother, who he accompanied to the polls, had problems assuring the electronic touch screen machine was accurately recording her preference for Sen. Barack Obama. “She went to punch the selection for Obama and it flipped to McCain,” the caller said. “They need to do something about this. They need to separate the names. Put ‘em apart, pretty much. Side-by-side instead of stacked on top of one another. This issue needs to be addressed,” said the caller.

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Obama won more delegates in Texas than Clinton.

(CNN) - Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has won the Texas Democratic caucuses and will get more delegates out of the state than his rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who won the state's primary, according to CNN estimates.

Under the Texas Democratic Party's complex delegate selection plan, Texas voters participated in both a primary and caucuses on March 4. Two-thirds of the state's 193 delegates were at stake at the primary, while the remaining third were decided by the caucuses.

An additional 35 superdelegates were not tied to either contest. Clinton, of New York, defeated Obama in the primary by a 51-47 percent margin. But results of the caucuses were up in the air on election night and for several days afterward, due to state party rules that did not require local caucus officials to report their results to a centralized location.

Partial caucus results, representing 41 percent of all caucus precincts, showed Obama last week with 56 percent of the county-level delegates chosen at the caucuses to 44 percent for Clinton. The state party says it will not be able to provide a further breakdown of the caucus results from March 4.

After a comprehensive review of these results, CNN estimates that Obama won more support from Texas caucus-goers than Clinton. Based on the state party's tally, Obama's caucus victory translates into 38 national convention delegates, compared to 29 for Clinton.

And though Clinton won more delegates than Obama in the primary, 65 to 61, Obama's wider delegate margin in the caucuses gives him the overall statewide delegate lead, 99 to 94 - or once superdelegate endorsements are factored in, 109 to 106.

CNN's estimate is based on a statistical review, which combined the county-level results provided by the state party with data from the U.S. Census, exit polls and telephone surveys.

That analysis showed that the counties that reported data to the state party last week appear to be a representative cross-section of the Texas population. The analysis also indicates that areas that were won by Obama reported results at essentially the same rate as areas that were won by Clinton.

Every procedure used to statistically model the outcome of the caucuses indicated that Obama had more support than Clinton.

The next step in the delegate-selection process will occur on March 29, when the county-level delegates chosen at the March 4 caucuses will meet in county conventions held across the state. CNN will closely monitor those events and will adjust its delegate estimate for Obama and Clinton, if necessary, based on those results at that time.

(CNN) - At last report, with 40 percent of precincts counted, Barack Obama led Hillary Clinton 56 percent to 44 percent in the Texas Democratic caucuses. Counting continues today.

Clinton beat Obama to win the Texas Democratic primary 51 to 48 percent.

Related video: CNN's Ed Lavandera examines the chaos of the Texas caucuses

CNN is not ready to project a winner in the Texas caucuses.

(CNN) - Following a Clinton campaign call alleging irregularities in the Texas Democratic caucuses, a state party representative told CNN that voters had been registering similar complaints with the party Tuesday evening.

“It is important to understand when you see a turnout in these numbers you are going to witness some problems, and the Texas Democratic Party has taken all the steps it can to make sure the process is run as smoothly as possible,” said Hector Nieto, the state party’s communications director. “We understand that there are voters across the state that have concerns, and we urge them to contact the call center.”

Nieto said the Texas Democratic Party had established a call center with 200 phone lines that was staffed by lawyers to “address any concerns.”

Nieto was unable to provide a time when the results of the caucuses would be made public. At stake in Tuesday evening’s party-run caucuses were 67 delegates. Earlier in the day, 126 delegates were on the line in the state-run primary.

– CNN's Mark Preston and Rebecca Sinderbrand

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Barack Obama’s campaign lawyer Bob Bauer crashed a conference call convened by Hillary Clinton’s campaign Tuesday evening, sparring with Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson in an exchange that lasted several minutes.

Bauer dialed into the call that was intended to update the media on alleged irregularities in Texas caucus voting and identified himself to Wolfson’s surprise.

“Nice of you to call. How are you?” said a startled Wolfson when Bauer introduced himself.

The two men then proceeded to battle over the Clinton campaign’s complaints over caucus voting in Nevada and in Texas, with Bauer directly asking the Clinton campaign to “Stop attacking the caucus process.”

Wolfson responded by challenging Bauer to work closely with the Clinton campaign to ensure there were no irregularities in the Texas caucuses.

“I would ask you to join with us this evening in ensuring that the serious problems that are ongoing as we speak in Texas are addressed,” Wolfson said, adding that they did not hold Bauer "personally responsible.”

Bauer returned to his original charge, saying that the Clinton campaign had attempted to interfere with the process in both Iowa and Nevada, adding: “How is this (complaint) any different than the series of complaints registered against every caucus that you lose?"

After several minutes, Wolfson ended the conversation, telling Bauer he looked forward to "asking our own questions on subsequent calls of yours."

A senior citizen casts her vote in Bloomdale, Ohio.

(CNN) - One of the statistics in the exit polls I wanted to watch out for was the senior vote - Clinton needs to win big among this group to stay competitive with Obama, and tonight's exit polls show she is doing just that.

The New York senator only won two age groups in Texas and Ohio (50-64 and 65+) - but together those age groups make up roughly 45 percent of the electorate in both states.

In Ohio, she's winning the 50-64 bloc by 20 points and the 65+ vote by 40 points. In Texas, her margins of victory in those blocs are 11 points and 30 points respectively. It's imperative Clinton's support among these groups hold to counterbalance Obama's overwhelming popularity among young voters and his edge with those who are middle-aged.

–CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider