On his way out?

After dismal Iowa showing, Rick Perry plans return to Texas to reassesspresidential campaign

Texas Gov. Rick Perry enjoys comparing himself to Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow but it appears Perry will never reach the end zone. In fact, he'll need to kneel and pray for a miracle while backed up against his own goal line.

As the Iowa caucus results roll in, Perry is staring up from the bottom of a well. It appears he's mired in fifth place. Even the country folks in rural Iowa had trouble voting for a part-time farmer, full-time politician and God-fearing man, and that spells trouble for the Texas governor as he tries to change his address to Washington, D.C.

The Iowa results are rarely a good indication of who will will win, but it they do provide a good culling of the candidates and right now Rick Perry is being cut out of the herd.

With a majority of returns in, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum ran neck and neck for the win with Ron Paul on their tail. Newt Gingrich ran a distant fourth.

Fifth place is not what Perry hoped for. He quietly discussed a competitive third as an opportunity to move on to New Hampshire, but fifth? At least he's beating Michele Bachman — that's a victory considering she's been running for years compared to Perry's five months.

Around 11 p.m. Tuesday night, Perry told supporters in Des Moines he plans to re-assess his presidential campaign after his dismal showing.

“With the voters’ decision tonight, I’ve decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight’s caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race,” Perry said.

Perry had previously said he would skip New Hampshire, where the first-in-the-nation presidential primary will be held on Jan. 10, and take his campaign directly to South Carolina, where he hoped to do better.

Online politics

In our socially connected online world, political junkies wet their pants at the live online assets available to them. You can sit in your living room in your pj's no less — and feel like you were sitting in a caucus yourself.

WNYC provided this interactive map developed by Patchwork Nation. It updates automatically, just scroll over a county to see who won.

On a larger scale, even Google jumped into the fray with one of the better live update maps. If you're a glutton for political punishment, you can sit and stare at maps like these while you watch CNN (ouch — dude you need a life).

For a different take, the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank in Florida, highlighted an insiders perspective on covering the Iowa caucuses from a veteran journalist who's been there.

Perry is winning one poll — YouTube. Perry leads the video fray with the most views on his channel. It's not as entertaining as watching his out-takes but hey, folks seem to like it.

The Iowa results — while covered by the news nets as though we're electing a President —are rarely a good indication of who will will win (four years ago Mike Huckabee rocked the Iowa vote), but it they do provide a good culling of the candidates and right now Perry is being cut out of the herd.

unspecified

room for improvement

Houston has work to do on ranking of America's fittest cities for 2026

Photo by Gabin Vallet on Unsplash

About 74 percent of Houstonians have exercised in the past month.

Houstonians are more fit than they used to be, but the city still needs to hit the gym. The Bayou City ranks in the middle of the pack in a ranking of America's fittest cities.

This year’s American Fitness Index puts Houston at No. 44 among the country’s 100 most populated cities, up from 49th place last year. Houston ranks 26th in the personal health category and a disappointing 64th in the community and environment category.

The index shows 74 percent of Houston residents had exercised in the previous month, 57 percent had met aerobic activity guidelines, and 33 percent had met aerobic and strength activity guidelines. The first two of those numbers are below the 100-city averages.

The Elevance Health Foundation and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) produce the annual index, which they say combines measures of personal health behavior, chronic disease outcomes, community infrastructure, and environmental factors “to provide a comprehensive picture of how well cities promote fitness and well-being.”

Arlington, Virginia, tops the index, followed by Washington, D.C.; Minneapolis; Seattle; and Denver. The Dallas suburb of Plano takes the top Texas spot at No. 12 nationally.

“The cities that consistently rank at the top aren’t succeeding because of one program or one investment,” Stella Volpe, past president of ACSM and chair of the Fitness Index Advisory Board, says in a press release. “They’ve built systems that support healthier living over time. They are the ones creating environments where physical activity can easily become a part of everyday routines.”

One thing helping Houston is its strong network of parks. In May, Houston landed at No. 10 in Texas and 69th in the U.S. in the annual ParkScore Index. That was down slightly from 2025.

Every year, land conservation nonprofit The Trust for Public Land rates park systems in the 100 biggest American cities on accessibility, equity, acreage, investment, and amenities.

Among other Texas cities appearing in the American Fitness index are:

No. 28 Austin, down from No. 21 last year.
No. 43 Dallas, up from 46th last year.
No. 69 Fort Worth, up from 80th last year.
No. 80 San Antonio, up from No. 94 last year.

“Where you live increasingly determines how healthy you are,” Volpe says. “The healthiest cities don’t just encourage exercise — they make movement part of daily life through infrastructure, transportation, and community design.”

fittest city plano rankings health