Evan Smith, Texas Tribune

KUT is a reporting partner with the Texas Tribune. Here's the best of the Trib's reporting from this very busy week.

Gov. Rick Perry’s legendary winning streak came to its inglorious end Thursday. Standing in a plain conference room, the governor who had only ever known political victory admitted defeat.

In a tough new ad, Iowa caucus frontrunner-of-the-moment Ron Paul takes out after the "Washington machine," "serial hypocrite" Newt Gingrich and "flip-flopper" Mitt Romney.

Rick Perry's campaign has filed suit in federal court challenging the constitutional validity of Virginia's ballot access rules. The Texas governor was notified last Friday that he had failed to submit the requisite number of valid signatures from registered voters in the Commonwealth and would not appear on the March 6 primary ballot.

Oops, they did it again.

For only the second time in its history, Texas Monthly has named a Texas governor its Bum Steer of the Year. The first was Dolph Briscoe, who earned the distinction, if you can call it that, back in 1976. This year, Gov. Rick Perry takes the (booby) prize, thanks to a stumbling presidential campaign that has been grade-A fodder for late night talk show hosts and cable TV comics.

In a new ad airing today in Iowa and apparently intended to appeal to conservative evangelicals, Rick Perry talks openly about his faith — and says liberals believe "faith is a sign of weakness."

"The values I learned served me well as governor of Texas and will continue to guide me as president," Rick Perry says in a new ad that begins airing today in Iowa, whose first-in-the-nation caucus is less than two months away.

Looking past the Republican primary to the general election, Rick Perry's campaign today released an ad contrasting its characterization of Barack Obama's first years in office — "zero" accomplishments on jobs, change, etc. — with the Texas governor's promise of national renewal through new leadership.

The Gov is on the cov.

Rick Perry comes out swinging in an exclusive interview in the new issue of Time magazine, which hits newsstands tomorrow. Perry sat down with the magazine's editor, Rick Stengel, and Mark Halperin, its editor at large and senior political analyst; he was photographed for the cover by Platon in a tight close-up.

Portions of the interview are now online, but we've culled a few choice excerpts:

At this morning's TribLive conversation, state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, warned his House Republican colleagues about overreaching in exercising their supermajority power.