State Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Ft. Worth) has seen her name recognition soar, according to the first Texas poll taken since her 11-hour filibuster against an anti-abortion bill, but she would still trail Gov. Rick Perry (R) by 14 points in a hypothetical match-up.

Texas voters were somewhat more likely to support than oppose Davis' use of the filibuster, the Democratic firm PPP found, with 45 percent approving and 40 percent disapproving.

Her stance on abortion has also helped Davis's standing in the state. The percentage of voters who've heard of her doubled this year, from 34 percent in January to 68 percent currently. Thirty-nine percent hold a favorable opinion of her, compared to 29 percent with an unfavorable opinion, making her better-known and better-liked than a number of other Texas Democrats, including Houston Mayor Annise Parker, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, and former Houston Mayor Bill White.

The nationwide attention Davis received for her filibuster has sparked talk that she could challenge Perry in next year's gubernatorial race. But she remains considerably behind Perry, who leads her 53 percent to 39 percent.

Perry fared similarly well against two other possible Democratic candidates, leading Parker by 52 percent to 35 percent and White by 50 percent to 40 percent. Perry had a smaller, 7-point lead against Castro, who announced earlier this year that he would not run for governor.

Perry's position also appears to have improved since earlier this year. Forty-five percent of voters approve of his performance as governor, while 50 percent disapprove -- still a negative rating, but up a net 8 points since January. Support from his Republican base, which earlier seemed to have cooled, has rebounded to 81 percent, and he now leads conservative state Attorney General Greg Abbott by 12 points in a primary matchup, 46 percent to 34 percent.

PPP used automated phone calls to survey 500 Texas voters between June 28 and July 1.

The front-runner for the Republican nomination for New Jersey's open U.S. Senate seat told a tea party audience Monday that young voters were "indoctrinated" against the United States of 40 years ago.

Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan told the Morristown Tea Party Org at a rally that older voters and tea party members will be the ones who decide the winner of the Oct. 16 special election, NJ.com reported. He said those voters are the ones who remember past decades and "want to keep [the United States] that way." Lonegan, who has headed New Jersey's chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers' group, is facing off against physician Alieta Eck in the Aug. 13 special GOP primary election. The elections were called by Gov. Chris Christie (R) after the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) in June.

NJ.com reports that Lonegan also dived into a series of issues that have been tea party staples in recent years.

"It's older people who are going to be voting," he told an audience member who asked how he'd reach young voters. "Don't be so disturbed that it's more older people who remember what America was 40 years ago and want to keep it that way, rather than the younger people who have been indoctrinated."

He gave the conservatives and constitutionalists in the crowd plenty to applaud. He said American freedoms are "under assault like never before." He criticized what he called the "commie ... I mean common core curriculum," a federal effort to standardize educational requirements. He said Obama's reluctance to approve the Keystone Pipeline System, to bring oil from Canada to the United States, is "destroying our access to real, affordable energy."

Lonegan, one of the most conservative politicians in New Jersey, has quickly become the establishment-backed Republican Senate candidate. While on the outs with the more moderate party establishment in his unsuccessful bids for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2005 and 2009, he quickly garnered a series of endorsements in the Senate race. The endorsements came after top Republicans declined to run in the fast-paced election.

Lonegan's candidacy is helped by his two previous statewide runs and the network he built running AFP in New Jersey. The former Bogota mayor has taken a series of positions to the right of most Garden State Republicans, including opposing federal aid for Hurricane Sandy relief last year unless other funding projects were taken out of the package.

On the Democratic side Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Rep. Frank Pallone, Rep. Rush Holt and state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver are facing off for the nomination. Booker has been leading the Democratic field and Lonegan in recent polls.

As more cash-strapped municipalities consider outsourcing services to try to save money, one public interest group is hoping to turn privatization efforts into a debate over taxpayer control.

In the Public Interest, a non-profit that tracks privatization, plans to roll out a legislative agenda on Tuesday, pushing for transparency and accountability laws where outsourcing is under consideration for services that include managing prison systems, transit systems and water authorities.

"We want to go on the offense," said Donald Cohen, the group's chair. "We really find that when we take it out of the partisan frame -- the labor [versus] business frame -- these are good-government measures and we can get support from folks that just want to manage government well. That includes conservatives who don't want to see corporations take over public control."

Potential savings from privatization can be dubious. Still, state and local governments across the country have outsourced public services to private companies in an effort to straighten out their budgets. Through its own recent polling, Cohen said In the Public Interest has found that respondents are far less likely to support privatization when it's framed as an issue of taxpayer control of tax-funded services.

Cities and states often must relinquish control over public services and space in such deals, as Chicago did leasing its parking meters to a private company for 75 years. In the for-profit prison world, companies have been known to seek contracts guaranteeing a certain level of occupancy over the long term, an arrangement that government watchdogs say works against the public interest.

Privatization plans have been a growing concern for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, or AFSCME. Like state laws that have weakened public-sector collective bargaining, privatization has helped erode AFSCME's membership as public agencies are transformed into non-union workforces. The union recently dispatched one of its D.C. communications deputies, Blaine Rummel, to In the Public Interest to work as a senior strategist under a grant.

"One of our big objectives is to engage in some narrative change around the issue of outsourcing," Rummel said. "This legislative agenda is part of that -- to move some simple commonsense ordinances and bills in places where not only they can pass, but where folks might not expect these sort of measures to be introduced, including red states."

The group plans to advocate that local governments post details of their contracts online, that contractors open their books to the public, and that contract workers be paid a living wage when paid with public money.

Rep. Alan Grayson's campaign promoted a video on Twitter last week that explained how to compromise with Republicans, but not without calling them "'idiotic.'" The tweet was deleted in a few hours and replaced with a toned-down version.

Grayson, a Florida Democrat known for controversial remarks about his GOP colleagues, originally tweeted: "Ask Alan Anything, Vol. 3, @alangrayson explains how to work with 'idiotic' Republicans." The tweet included a link to a campaign video titled "Ask Alan Anything — Working With Republicans," which is part of an ongoing series for his reelection campaign.

The original tweet went out on Wednesday, but was deleted three hours later. It was caught by Politwoops, a Sunlight Foundation tool that captures the deleted tweets of politicians. The same day, a new tweet promoting the video appeared on Grayson's account:

How to work with Republicans, stick to your principles & actually get things done! . http://t.co/FgV7SdORkx Donate: http://t.co/UUF0M1u1WY

— Rep. Alan Grayson (@AlanGrayson) June 29, 2013

According to Todd Jurkowski, who helps with communications for Grayson's campaign, the deletion aimed to correct a mistake in the original tweet. In the video, Grayson does not call Republicans ''idiots." The term "idiots" was used by the person who asked Grayson the question.

In the video, Grayson says that many Republicans are "callous, bigoted tools" -- but adds that he respects some of them and tries to work across the aisle.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is downplaying expectations for his reelection bid, saying he's not looking to set a record in this year's gubernatorial contest.

Christie, who is facing off against Democratic nominee Barbara Buono in November, told a New Jersey television news show over the weekend that he doesn't expect to win by more than 40 points, the Star-Ledger reported. Christie told NJTV that he would be happy winning with just over 50 percent of the vote, noting that winning by a majority -- rather than plurality -- would be a first for a Republican statewide candidate in a quarter-century.

“Let’s keep in context what big means for a Republican in New Jersey. No Republican statewide candidate has gotten 50 percent plus one vote since George (Herbert Walker) Bush in 1988,” the Star-Ledger reported Christie said on NJTV.

Christie received 48 percent of the vote in his 2009 victory over former Gov. Jon Corzine (D). Former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, the last Republican to win the office before Christie, received under 50 percent in her two wins in the 1990s.

Christie has been leading Buono, a state senator from Middlesex County, by over 30 points, prompting speculation that he was attempting to run up a bigger landslide than former Republican Gov. Tom Kean received in his 1985 reelection campaign. In that race, Kean defeated his Democratic opponent, then-Essex County Executive Peter Shapiro, by 40 points and carried the state's 21 counties and all but three of the its 567 municipalities.

Democrats are attempting to unify behind Buono, who has seen over 30 Democratic elected officials back Christie, including two of the state's most powerful Democrats.

Buono supporters told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Democratic legislative leaders denied Buono a chance to fight Christie over the state budget and to overturn the governor's veto of a bill allowing same-sex marriage in the state.

"Not enough Democrats are behind Barbara Buono, that's for sure," Assemblyman Timothy Eustace (D-Maywood) told the Inquirer.

Speaking on his Fox News show over the weekend, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) attacked the Supreme Court for its recent landmark rulings on gay rights, labeling the justices "extremists" and claiming they thought themselves to be wiser than "God almighty himself."

After insisting he was neither a "homophobe nor a hater" because of his anti-gay marriage stance, Huckabee compared homosexuality to polygamy and prostitution.

“If we’re determined to change the definition of marriage to accommodate how people feel and what they wish to do because of their mutual consent, then we should immediately release those incarcerated for practicing polygamy or bigamy,” Huckabee said. “And, frankly, let’s make all consensual adult behaviors legal, whether prostitution, assisted suicide, or even drinking 16 ounce sodas in New York City.”

Huckabee said he was on the "right side of history," arguing that gay marriage is "newer than Google or the iPod ... and the first nation to even codify it into law didn't do so until the year 2000." He also said that the issue "is not equality, but sameness."

"Equality means intrinsic worth and value ... but equality of worth doesn't create sameness," he said. "There are differences between men and women and votes of Congress nor the 'extreme court' can change that."

Huckabee added marriage to his list of incorrect Supreme Court decisions that included allowing abortion, condoning slavery and denying prayer in public schools.

"As much as I'd love to be loved and admired by all, I can't defy the definition of marriage any more than I can defy the definition of gravity," he said.

Huckabee, a former pastor, responded to the Supreme Court rulings last week on Twitter, saying, "My thoughts on the SCOTUS ruling that determined that same sex marriage is okay: 'Jesus wept.'"

Watch the full clip above or click here.

[H/T The Raw Story]

At a time when Washington is extremely concerned about excessive spending, the cost of one congressman's overseas trip has raised eyebrows.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) booked a $19,525 flight to Egypt in November 2012. The ticket was paid for by taxpayers.

Pearce spokesman Eric Layer defended the exorbitant price tag to the Journal, noting the Veterans Day trip was booked with less than two weeks' notice after a congressional delegation trip was canceled. However, the Journal emphasized that an online search for roundtrip airfare leaving for Egypt in less than two weeks found tickets for $2,477, less than 13 percent of what taxpayers shelled out for Pearce's five-day excursion.

Layer also underscored that the trip was a worthwhile expenditure.

"Congressman Pearce spent six years in the military, three of which he spent in Vietnam. During his time in the military, especially his time overseas, not one politician ever visited, let alone spoke to him. Congressman Pearce is committed to not making the same mistake," Layer said.

Over the past year, Pearce has also traveled to Ghana, the United Arab Emirates and Germany. The travel for those trips was provided by the U.S. military.

Pearce has been known for chastising his fellow elected officials for reckless spending. The Wall Street Journal described him as "a fiscal conservative who has made cutting wasteful government spending a hallmark of his tenure in the House."

"Turning a blind eye to the reckless spending habits of Washington will only result in greater economic crisis," Pearce said in a March 2012 statement in response to House Republicans releasing their fiscal year 2013 budget.

"Get yourselves efficient," Pearce told New Mexico federal workers this January, speaking of sequestration budget cuts. "… I encourage the people in New Mexico to lead by example. Tighten your own belt and you’ll find yourself a winner as these cuts happen.”

In a display of bipartisanship, Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had been co-hosting a weekly breakfast for Nevadans visiting Washington, D.C., giving constituents a chance to meet with both their senators over orange juice and doughnuts.

Heller, however, has stopped participating in the Thursday morning tradition, which began after last November's election.

According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, Heller's spokeswoman Chandler Smith said the senator found it more effective to meet with constituents in a more personal setting.

“Sen. Heller did go to a few breakfasts after the election, but he found that the one-on-one constituent meetings were more productive, and that he preferred them,” Smith said.

These breakfasts are closed to the press; the Las Vegas Review Journal noted it was only when a reporter peeked into the room and saw Reid speaking alone that it became evident Heller was no longer participating.

Heller and Reid have had a hot and cold relationship. But Smith dismissed any attempts to read into Heller's decision to stop co-hosting the breakfasts.

Since the late 1990s, Reid has hosted a weekly "Welcome to Washington" breakfast for Nevadans at the Capitol. Former Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) co-hosted the breakfast with Reid for 10 years.

Phil Kent, a Republican appointed to the Georgia Immigration Enforcement Board by Gov. Nathan Deal (R), dismissed same-sex couples seeking marriage equality as "sob stories" on Sunday.

"It's a sad day in America because this does dynamite the foundations of our Judeo-Christian system," Kent said Sunday on the local Fox program "The Georgia Gang," referring to the Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act. "It's going to be a cultural war in Georgia and every other state to try to undo this wrong."

When Deal appointed Kent to a new immigration board in 2011, his decision drew public criticism. Some called Kent's views on multiculturalism extreme, and thousands signed a petition asking Deal to remove Kent from the board.

Kent also took heat when he criticized the U.S. for resettling Somali refugees in America, calling Somalis a "primitive people."

On Sunday, he derided the "sob stories" coming from same-sex couples seeking marriage equality. He argued that they could have sought civil unions instead, and said that comparing the fight for same-sex marriage to civil rights is "offensive to African Americans."

Kent concluded, "I hope the pagans in the left's values do not prevail because that's not the Judeo-Christian culture that made this country great."

Former President George W. Bush defended PRISM, the Internet spying program that began under his administration but remained secret until The Washington Post and The Guardian revealed its existence last month.

"I put that program in place to protect the country. One of the certainties was that civil liberties were guaranteed," Bush told CNN in an interview airing Monday. "I think there needs to be a balance, and as the president explained, there is a proper balance."

PRISM began under Bush in 2007 and has continued under the Obama administration. The program allows the National Security Administration to collect internet and email data from the nation's biggest technology companies.

Bush spoke with CNN from Zambia, where he and his wife, Laura, are renovating a health clinic. The comments were his first since news about PRISM was made public, and his reflexive, nonspecific defense of the program will likely add to critics' case that it was approved with little oversight or debate.

Bush also said that Edward Snowden, who leaked the existence of the program to the newspapers and is currently believed to be in the transit zone of the Moscow airport, had harmed national security.

When asked if he is a traitor, Bush said, "I know he damaged the country."

Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) has united more than 160 Democratic elected officials, including some of New Jersey's most powerful, in his bid for a U.S. Senate seat.

Booker, who is locked in a four-way race in the state's special Senate election, made the announcement while surrounded by the group at a hotel in downtown Newark Friday. The officials hail from Essex, Hudson, Passaic and Bergen Counties, some of the most Democratic in the state. Bergen County is considered a must-win in general elections for statewide candidates. Booker has already received backing from powerful South Jersey Democratic boss George Norcross.

Booker faces Rep. Frank Pallone, Rep. Rush Holt and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) in the Aug. 13 Democratic primary for the seat left vacant by the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) earlier this month. The Democratic nominee will oppose the winner of a Republican primary, either former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan or physician Alieta Eck, in the Oct. 16 special election.

Endorsements for Booker include several of the most powerful Democrats in New Jersey, including Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo and state Sen. Brian Stack (D-Union City), who has announced his support for Booker earlier. Among the new backers are state Democratic Party Chairman John Currie, Jersey City Mayor-elect Steve Fulop, state Sen. Nick Sacco (D-North Bergen) and state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck). DiVincenzo was joined by most Democrats from Essex County, while Fulop delivered Booker his allies in Jersey City, the state's second largest city.

Earlier this month, Fulop had tweeted to supporters that Booker and the other Senate candidates had not backed him in last month's mayoral contest. DiVincenzo and Stack had previously broke ranks with Democrats to back Republican Gov. Chris Christie for reelection over Democratic nominee Barbara Buono.

The list also unites several longtime rivals, who put aside past differences to back Booker. Among those are Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer and her longtime Hoboken rival, Councilwoman Beth Mason. Also, Fulop, Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith and Assemblyman Jason O'Donnell (D-Bayonne), who campaigned against Fulop last month, joined the effort. Another Booker endorser was Essex County Freeholder Brendan Gill (D-Montclair), who served as Lautenberg's state director. Lautenberg and Booker had bad blood prior to the senator's death, over what Lautenberg and his allies viewed as Booker trying to push him out of the Senate. Booker has signaled his interest in the seat prior to Lautenberg announcing his retirement.

The endorsement list is a blow to Oliver, who saw top Democrats from her East Orange hometown back Booker. Both Booker and Oliver live in Essex County. When not serving as Assembly speaker, Oliver is a top aide to DiVincenzo.

The endorsements will likely deliver key ground troops to Booker for the primary battle. A HuffPost Pollster summary of recent polling, shows Booker with 54 percent, followed by Holt at 11 percent, Pallone at 8 percent and Oliver at 5 percent.

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) announced Thursday that he plans to give away a Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle. Another one.

“Why am I giving away an AR-15 rifle? It’s just one way to thank you for defeating Obama’s anti-gun agenda this year,” said an email from Stockman's campaign arm. “But the battle for the right to keep and bear arms is heating up again. President Obama and Sen. Harry Reid [D-Nev.] are not happy that they didn’t pass any gun control yet, so they’re coming back for more.”

In order to draw pro-gun supporters to his campaign, Stockman will give away the free rifle on July 4, according to The Daily Caller.

“I hope you realize that the only reason Obama has not been able to ban semi-autos, magazines and gun shows is because of your activism,” the email continues. The message also refers to the Bushmaster as "the firearm that Obama most wants to ban," and includes a video of an intern shooting the rifle, which can be seen above. The firearm has emerged as particularly controversial in the wake of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. last year, in which the shooter used a Bushmaster to gun down 26 people.

Stockman employed a similar tactic last month by advertising an AR-15 giveaway on Twitter, inviting readers to "grab this gun before Obama does!"

An outspoken Second Amendment supporter, Stockman is also known for promoting a bumper sticker that read, “If babies had guns they wouldn’t be aborted”. He wrote an open letter earlier this year inviting all gun owners to move to Texas, so their "rights will not be infringed upon."

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter is going after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) after Christie's appointee to the U.S. Senate voted for the immigration bill.

Coulter tweeted Thursday that Christie is "dead to me" after Sen. Jeff Chiesa (R-N.J.) voted in favor of the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate, the Star-Ledger reported. The comment about Christie was part of a series of tweets by Coulter attacking Republicans who voted in favor of the bill, which received bipartisan support. Christie appointed Chiesa to the Senate earlier this month following the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D). Chiesa is scheduled to serve until a Oct. 16 special election to fill the remaining 15 months of Lautenberg's term.

@GovChristie's dead to me: Jeffrey S. Chiesa R NJ votes "Aye" on Amnesty bill. CRUZ 2016!

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) June 27, 2013

Right after attacking Christie, Coulter listed Republican senators who she wanted to see targeted in Republican primaries when they run for reelection because they voted for the bill. Among those listed were Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.).

Coulter received support on Twitter for her attack on Christie; one tweet from an account belonging to @RedKnightNJ attacked Christie for naming Chiesa to the Senate without checking on the immigration bill first. When he was named to the Senate, Chiesa largely deflected questions on immigration policy, talking briefly about border security and saying he needed to study the issues.

Christie said at the time that he expected Chiesa to act on his own and not seek advice from him on Senate votes. Christie reiterated earlier this week that Chiesa acts independently from him.

@AnnCoulter @GovChristie Agree completely. Christie knew this vote was coming and made a selection with that in mind & this is what we got.

— Red in NJ (@RedKnightNJ) June 28, 2013

Coulter, who backed Christie in the past, has been distancing herself from the New Jersey governor recently. Earlier this year, she told a weight joke at the Conservative Political Action Conference when discussing the decision by CPAC officials not to invite Christie to speak.

Chiesa announced his support for the immigration bill on Thursday, saying that "it is the right thing to do." Chiesa has been a longtime member of Christie's inner circle, dating back to when the two worked at the same Cranford law firm in the 1990s. Chiesa served under Christie when the governor was New Jersey's U.S. attorney for seven years. Christie tapped Chiesa as his chief counsel in the governor's office and as New Jersey's attorney general before appointing him to the U.S. Senate.

Christie's spokesman said the governor's office did not have a comment on Coulter's tweet.

Another United States senator has said he thinks the actions of National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden may constitute treason, just one day after White House officials expressed additional concern over just how much information the leaker has in his possession.

Senator Angus King (I-Maine) told The Takeaway on Friday that he feels treason could be a fitting description for Snowden's decision to leak information about sweeping U.S. surveillance efforts.

"I've been thinking about this as the story has unfolded, and at first I thought [Snowden] was trying to raise a public debate about important issues, and that maybe he's more like a whistle-blower," King said. "As it's gone on, I'm moving more and more towards the treason end of the scale. There were other ways to bring this information to light."

King, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, suggested to The Takeaway that Snowden could have contacted elected officials with his concerns.

King told The Takeaway he is especially concerned that Snowden has traveled to China and spoken publicly about cyber security efforts. The Associated Press previously reported that Snowden told the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong's English-language daily paper, that U.S. hacking targets in China include cell phone companies and universities hosting Internet traffic hubs.

According to a South China Morning Post article, Snowden sought out his job at Booz Allen to gain access to classified information. That report, King said, was part of why he changed his position on the issue.

"That sounds like treason to me," King said on Friday.

King is not the first elected official to suggest treason for Snowden.

"Edward Snowden is not a whistle-blower," Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) wrote in an op-ed in the New York Daily News. "What Edward Snowden did amounts to an Act of Treason."

And shortly after the scandal came to light, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) told The Hill, "I don't look at this as being a whistle-blower. I think it's an act of treason."

Others have been less harsh in their reactions to the NSA leaker.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told The Hill that Snowden “made his choice over ... the Bill of Rights,” which “is an important thing.” However, the senator declined to make a final judgment on Snowden's actions.

In the past week, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has appealed for a "brave country" to grant the whistle-blower asylum. It is believed Snowden has thousands more classified documents in his possession.