Texas Gov. Rick Perry's first television ad of his 2010 re-election campaign touts his record on fiscal matters and subtly links Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to "Washington politics."

Perry's ad, released Thursday, says that he cut taxes, created jobs and balanced the budget in Texas, where Perry is seeking a third full term but faces serious intraparty competition from Hutchison, a senator since 1993.

Though the governor's ad doesn't specifically mention Hutchison, Perry's chief opponent in the March 2010 primary, it does briefly display a picture of Hutchison, presumably at a press conference in the nation's capital, as a narrator says the words, "While Washington gives us politics."

Until this weekend, Wisconsin Democrats had a better idea of who won't be running for governor (not the incumbent, not the current lieutenant governor and not the congressman) -- than about who will be in the primary.

Well, that's changed.

The mayor of Miwaukee, Tom Barrett is now in the race.

Here's the local coverage from:

• The Wisconsin State Journal

• WKOW-TV

• Wausau Daily Herald

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison won't resign her seat until after she participates in a Republican primary for governor next March.

According to the Associated Press, Hutchison plans to say in a speech Saturday in Galveston that she'll remain in the Senate to fight Democratic proposals to overhaul health care and enact a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gases.

"I realize this will keep me in the Senate past the primary election," Hutchison plans to say, according to the AP. "These issues are too important to leave the fight to a newly appointed freshman senator who will be selected in the midst of a political storm."

Hutchison in July told a radio interviewer that she planned to resign from the Senate in October or November to concentrate on her primary challenge of Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who has been governor since December 2000 and is seeking a third full term. But she soon backed away from that statement and said it was possible she could stay in the Senate through the gubernatorial primary.

While most in South Carolina's political world have distanced themselves from scandal-tarred Gov. Mark Sanford, Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley continues to talk up her Sanford ties.

On Wednesday, Haley's campaign touted an endorsement from Jenny Sanford, the governor's estranged wife, featuring it prominently on Haley's Web site and sending around a release to reporters.

In her letter, Jenny Sanford writes that she is "proud of the work Mark and his Administration have done ... to reduce out-of-control state spending, reform archaic state government structure, and give children more educational choices." She makes no mention of his affair with an Argentinian woman, revealed in June, or the investigations into his use of state-funded travel, though she does allude, later in the letter, that it has been a "hard" year for her family.

Sanford continues that Haley is the best person to continue her husband's work when he completes his second and final term next year. "When I'm asked my wish for South Carolina's future, my wish is for a leader of state government like Nikki Haley. She's principled, conservative, tough, and smart," she writes.

New York Gov. David A. Paterson is going for broke -- literally -- to bolster his floundering re-election hopes. On Friday he launched a pair of television spots Friday that will cost his campaign $626,000 to air for the next week, according to advertising data obtained by CQ Politics.

The two ads, which the campaign hopes will jolt his approval ratings out of their year-long slump, are airing in the Albany, Buffalo, New York City, Rochester and Syracuse media markets.

Both ads take a contrite tone while seeking to drive home the message that Paterson is fighting for the people of New York rather than special interests or his own political career. In the first, Paterson acknowledges that some people think he "shouldn't be running for governor," before listing a series of actions he's taken that may not be politically strategic but helped the state cope with its budget crisis. In the second, he says he has learned from his mistakes.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, D, who was just re-elected on Tuesday to a third term, already has his sights set on a higher office. Rybak filed the paperwork for a run for governor in 2010, jumping to the top of a long list of candidates in the Democratic field.

Rybak announced the move in an e-mail to supporters Thursday evening. "Filing these papers is the first step in the process of setting up the Rybak for Governor campaign," he wrote. "In the weeks ahead, we will be building a grassroots campaign to take our message to every corner of the state."

The popular mayor has not been shy about expressing his interest in the race, and has already participated in several gubernatorial candidate events, so the announcement comes as no surprise. Local observers expect him to be a formidable candidate, but not a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, R, will run for a full term in 2010, she confirmed Thursday. Brewer filed the paperwork for a gubernatorial campaign and gave a speech in Tuscon, Ariz. outlining why voters should return her to the governor's mansion in her own right.

Brewer was elected to a second term as Arizona secretary of State in 2006, then succeeded Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano after she resigned to become Secretary of Homeland Security.

But she has had a rocky first nine months as governor in which she has battled her own party in the state legislature over how to best close the state's $2 billion budget deficit. A Public Policy Polling survey released in September pegged Brewer's approval rating at just 26 percent. That and her reticence about whether or not she would run has drawn other Republicans into the race.

New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is coming to town later this month for a fundraiser hosted by lobbying power couple Tony and Heather Podesta, along with influential Pennsylvania lobbyist Bill Titelman and his wife Maria, major Democratic donors.

The lunch reception, Nov. 16 at Bistro Bis in downtown Washington, D.C., will raise funds for Cuomo's attorney general campaign committee, but the funds can easily be transferred over to a gubernatorial campaign. Cuomo has said he won't make any announcements about his political future until 2010, but his aggressive fundraising -- he had $10.1 million cash on hand midway through the year, according to his most recent campaign finance disclosure, filed in July -- have done nothing to dampen expectations that he will run for the Democratic nomination next year.

Co-hosts of the event include a long list of heavy hitters in the government affairs and political fundraising worlds, including Recording Industry Association of America Chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol and President Cary Sherman; Connie Campanella, president and CEO of Stateside Associates; Beth Dozoretz, a leading bundler for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, and her husband Ron; Motion Picture Association of America Chairman and CEO Dan Glickman, the former Kansas congressman and secretary of Agriculture in the Clinton administration.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom dropped out of the California governor's race Friday evening, saying he was not able to commit the time need to run a competitive campaign.

His withdrawal clears the field for state Attorney General and former Gov. Jerry Brown, who already had a strong lead over Newsom in the latest polls.

The young mayor had struggled to gain traction against Brown early on, despite the celebrity he gained from his high profile role in the gay marriage fight -- allowing marriages to take place in San Francisco in a challenge to state law. Newsom has also lagged Brown in fundraising.

State Rep. Paul Kohls became an early casualty of the crowded race for Minnesota governor, dropping out Thursday because of a lack of support from GOP constituencies.

"I've come to the conclusion that I don't have sufficient support from the delegates to keep going," Kohls told reporters.

Kohls, who has been in the state House since 2002, was not among the top finishers in the state Republican party's straw poll earlier this month. The poll was won by House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, one of the first and most prominent Republicans to join the race after incumbent Tim Pawlenty, a Republcan, announced he would not seek a third term.