DAVID GREENE, HOST:
On this morning after the election, we're getting snapshots from around the country. NPR's Wade Goodwyn sent this postcard from the Moody Theater in Austin, where people declared that in Texas these days, there's nothing better than being a Republican politician.
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RYAN SITTON: Howdy.
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SITTON: All right. Man, what a great time to be a Republican in Texas.
WADE GOODWYN, BYLINE: The newly elected Texas Railroad commissioner, young Ryan Sitton, was feeling pretty happy about the future of the Lone Star State. Texas is producing so much oil and gas these days, Sitton says we've got the Saudis on the run.
SITTON: Right now other nations who have had control over oil prices for decades are wondering, how will they compete with the state of Texas?
GOODWYN: U.S. Senator Ted Cruz was right on board with that notion, that there's nobody out there anywhere who can stop Texas.
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SENATOR TED CRUZ: The Texas ethos I would suggest to you is give me a horse and a gun and an open plain, and we can conquer the world.
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GOODWYN: Texas Governor Rick Perry said his goodbyes after 30 years as a Texas politician.
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GOVERNOR RICK PERRY: I can't tell you how proud I am to call myself a Texan.
GOODWYN: But before riding off into that west Texas sunset, the governor let us all know that everyone everywhere admires us.
PERRY: What we've collectively been able to do is to put together the most amazing economy, a place where people all across, not just America but around the globe, know that there is something really special going on in the great state of Texas.
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GOODWYN: In fact the envy pretty much never stops.
PERRY: I get to go to California or to Illinois or to New York and to talk about what's going on in the state of Texas. And their governors, they won't admit it, but you know they wish they had a little bit of what's going on in Texas in their states.
GOODWYN: The truth is Texans are great, and if you don't believe us, just ask.
PERRY: Thank you for the great and extraordinary privilege of being able to serve the greatest people that I will suggest the planet has ever had reside upon it, and that is the great citizens of the greatest state in the nation - Texas, Texas, Texas. God bless you all.
GREENE: That report from NPR's Wade Goodwyn reporting on the scene last night at the GOP victory party in Austin, Texas. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
