An unnamed top Republican official, on why a string of Newt Gingrich aides — including Rick Perry loyalists Dave Carney and Rob Johnson — quit en masse:  “There were different visions as to how the campaign should be run.”

Gov. Rick Perry in a letter to the nation’s governors inviting them to his August prayer event at Houston’s Reliant Stadium: "Given the trials that beset our nation and the world, from the global economic downturn to natural disasters, the lingering danger of terrorism and continued debasement of our culture, I believe it is time to convene the leaders from each of our United States in a day of prayer and fasting."

Tim Wildmon, the president of the American Family Association, the group sponsoring Gov. Rick Perry's August prayer event: "It's not just Jews or Muslims. It's anybody that rejects the free gift of salvation through Christ. The Bible teaches there's heaven and hell. Those who believe go to heaven. Those who don't go to hell."

Mark Potok, the Southern Poverty Law Center's director of intelligence, on the American Family Association, the conservative group sponsoring the governor’s prayer event: "The governor has invited haters to help him put on a day of prayer which seems ultimately aimed at demonizing gays and lesbians."

Houston Mayor Annise Parker on plans by the American Family Association, one of the nation's leading anti-gay groups, to sponsor the prayer event in Houston: "They can come back on a monthly basis if they'd like as long as they spend money."

U.S. Senate hopeful Elizabeth Ames Jones on her anti-abortion credentials, at a Texas Tribune candidate forum: "I'm the only one up here that's felt life inside my body." 

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, upon learning of the early morning shootout between alleged Mexican cartels operatives and U.S. law enforcement near the Rio Grande in Hidalgo County, in a statement: "Despite the repeated assurances of President Obama and Secretary Napolitano that our border is secure, today’s brazen attack on law enforcement provides further evidence for what Texans already know. Cartel-related violence along our border is real and escalating, and the Administration cannot continue to deny it when American lives."

Chihuahua Gov. Cesar Duarte on how Ciudad Juárez became inundated with at least 9,000 cartel members, to the El Paso Times: "What happened is that the cartels entered into a conflict, and then organized crime began to get involved in common crimes. What happened when we confronted this is that the Juárez cartel, which then had 500 people who controlled [their operations] throughout the state, added 5,000 gang members to its force."