Posts Tagged ‘Andrew Castanuela’

Texas Senate Race Update for February 23, 2012

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

Trying to catch back up with the Senate race after my trip, so some of this may be slightly old news:

  • The biggest recent news in the Senate race is the newest Texas Tribune/UT poll that shows David Dewhurst leading the race at 38%, but with Ted Cruz up to 27%. Tom Leppert and Craig James are tied way back in third place at 7% each, an outcome that must be discouraging for the Leppert team, given that he’s been running for over a year and James has only been running for two months. Glenn Addison and Lela Pittenger are the only other candidates to get any support at all at 1% each. However, the margin of error is ±5%. Full results in PDF form here.
  • Dewhurst managed to pull in big bucks from a big donor in Washington. A big democratic donor. “He was doing what he always does: reaching across the aisle. He’s not a Washington insider yet, and he’s already a Washington insider. No wonder the Texas press has so often labeled him ‘bipartisan’…This is a critical race for the Tea Party and for conservatives across the country. If Dewhurst wins, we’ll have yet another squish on our hands – and a squish who is only too eager to rub elbows with the liberal establishment.” (Hat tip: Must Read Texas.)
  • This Kate Alexander piece in the Austin-American Statesman is pretty interesting, not so much for the information there (BattleSwarm readers will find very little I haven’t already covered), but for the approach. Overall the piece is probably mildly negative on Cruz, but not unfairly negative. Unlike, say, certain of Robert T. Garrett’s pieces in The Dallas Morning News, the issues she raises are generally real and non-trivial, though not ones that most conservatives will find of burning importance.
  • Cruz womps the field in a survey of the North Texas Tea Party.
  • Cruz appeared on KYFO in Lubbock.
  • The Dewhurst campaign attacks Cruz for “not supporting Sen. John Cornyn for Republican Senate Whip.”

    Cruz has previously told reporters it’s more important to elect Senators who would pledge fealty to a divisive challenge to GOP leadership than it is for Republicans to regain its U.S. Senate majority this year. Cruz’s glaring lack of support for Sen. Cornyn, who’s now responsible for Republican efforts to retake that majority, effectively puts Cruz’s personal ambition and interests above conservative attempts to organize and stop the Obama agenda.

    So Dewhurst is attacking Cruz for actually wanting to enact conservative ideas rather than just paying lip-service to it while toeing the Republican establishment line. Got it. (Maybe someone on Team Dewhurst might want to take a look at this.)

  • Cruz elaborates on the subject.
  • Establishment vs. the Tea Party.
  • Dewhurst appeared on KCRS:

  • There was another candidate forum that David Dewhurst skipped. Attendees included Cruz, Tom Leppert, Craig James, Glenn Addison, Lela Pittenger, and…Andrew Castanuela? Did no one inform the organizers never filed for the Republican primary?
  • Scott Haddock interviews Tom Leppert Part 1 and Part 2.
  • The Texas Tribune did an interview with Craig James:

  • Glenn Addison gets a profile by the Houston Chronicle‘s Joe Holley. Addison’s evident friendliness with the John Birch society (yes, it’s still around) is not a plus in my book. I am gratified to see that Holley, who I dinged heavily, correctly lists both the number of candidates for each party, as well as their names.
  • That same TT/UT poll shows the Democratic side of the race virtually tied, with Sean Hubbard at 12%, Paul Sadler, Daniel Boone, and Addie D. Allen all tied at 10%, and John Morton (who the Democrats kicked off the ballot two months ago) at 3%. That’s good news for Hubbard (frontrunner again!) and Allen (whose campaign might be charitably called “low-key”), and bad news for anointed Democratic establishment candidate Sadler and “Gene Kelly 2.0” Boone. But the margin of error for Democrats is even higher at ±6%, so it’s still anyone’s race at this point.
  • Democrat Addie D. Allen now has a website (though it just has the GoDaddy parking page for now) and a Twitter feed.
  • University of Texas Democrats endorse Paul Sadler. That should be good for an extra five, maybe even six votes, easy…
  • Daniel Boone appeared before the Llano Tea Party, which I think makes him the first Democratic senate candidate to take up the repeated Tea Party offers for Democrats to speak. Good for him.
  • Pro-tip for Boone: Most people put the newest content at the top of their blog, not the oldest.
  • As far as I can tell, Craig James, Charles Holcomb, Ben Gambini, Joe Agris and Addie D. Allen have not filed Q4 reports with the FEC. Maybe none of them conducted any fundraising in the quarter.
  • Websites of the 2012 Texas Senate Candidates

    Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

    Here’s an updated list of the declared 2012 Texas senate candidate’s websites, along with any subsidiary pages that change frequently (in-the-news, press releases, etc.), along with their Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and FEC fundraising report pages, plus any additional pages worth noting. (For example, Tom Leppert’s website provides links to his LinkedIn page, and his YouTube and Flickr streams, so I have included those here.) I’ve also tried to be flexible; Ted Cruz doesn’t have links for separate YouTube or Flickr sites, so I’ve included similar pages on his campaign page.

    Consider this a one-stop research stop for lazy efficient journalists and bloggers (as well as a handy cheat-cheat for myself, since I’ve been doing extensive coverage of the race).

    Where candidates have sign-up splash screens, I have omitted those to go straight to the website (or, for Facebook links, their wall).

    Websites for 2012 Republican Senate Runoff Candidates

    Ted Cruz

  • Ted Cruz Website
  • Ted Cruz Facebook Page
  • Ted Cruz Twitter Feed
  • Ted Cruz FEC Page
  • David Dewhurst

  • David Dewhurst Website
  • David Dewhurst Facebook Page
  • David Dewhurst Twitter Feed (Note that the old Dewhurst4Texas feed is no longer active)
  • David Dewhurst YouTube Feed
  • David Dewhurst Flickr Photostream
  • The Official Lieutenant Governor’s Page
  • David Dewhurst’s FEC Page
  • Websites for 2012 Democratic Senate Runoff Candidates

    Paul Sadler

  • Paul Sadler Website
  • Paul Sadler Facebook Page
  • Paul Sadler Twitter Feed
  • Paul Sadler FEC Page
  • Grady Yarbrough

  • Grady Yarbrough’s Facebook Page
  • Websites for 2012 Republican Senate Candidates Who Missed the Runoff

    Tom Leppert

  • Tom Leppert Website
  • Tom Leppert Facebook page
  • Tom Leppert Twitter Feed
  • Tom Leppert LinkedIn page
  • Tom Leppert Flickr Photostream
  • Tom Leppert YouTube channel
  • Tom Leppert FEC Page
  • Craig James

  • Craig James Website
  • Craig James News
  • Craig James Media
  • Craig James Twitter Feed
  • Craig James Facebook
  • Glenn Addison

  • Glenn Addison Website
  • Glenn Addison Twitter Feed
  • Glenn Addison Facebook Page
  • Glenn Addison FEC Page
  • Lela Pittenger

  • Lela Pittenger Website
  • Lela Pittenger Facebook Page
  • Lela Pittenger Twitter Feed
  • Lela Pittenger FEC Page
  • Curt Cleaver

  • Curt Cleaver Website
  • Curt Cleaver Facebook page
  • Curt Cleaver Twitter Feed
  • Curt Cleaver Vimeo Page
  • Curt Cleaver FEC Page
  • Ben Gambini

  • Ben Gambini Facebook
  • Dr. Joe Agris

    No website yet.

    Republican Dropouts

    Declared Republican candidates who have dropped out of the race:

  • Elizabeth Ames Jones: Dropped out November 8, 2011.
  • Michael Williams: Dropped out June 17, 2011.
  • Roger Williams: Dropped out June 28, 2011.
  • Andrew Castanuela: Emailed December 21, 2011 saying he was running as an independent write-in candidate.
  • Charles Holcomb: Dropped out March 7, 2012.
  • Websites for 2012 Democratic Senate Candidates Who Missed the Runoff

    Addie D. Allen (AKA Addie Dainell Allen)

  • Addie D. Allen Website
  • Addie D. Allen Facebook page
  • Addie D. Allen Twitter Feed
  • Sean Hubbard

  • Sean Hubbard Website
  • Sean Hubbard Facebook Page
  • Sean Hubbard Twitter Feed
  • Sean Hubbard YouTube Feed
  • Sean Hubbard FEC Page
  • Democratic Dropouts

    Declared Democratic candidates who have dropped out of the race:

  • Ricardo Sanchez: Dropped out December 16, 2011.
  • Jason A. Gibson: Dropped out February 2, 2012.
  • Stanley Garza: Sent an email January 20, 2012 saying he was giving up his 2012 campaign.
  • Virgil Bierschwale: Sent an email January 25, 2012 saying he couldn’t afford the filing fee.
  • Daniel Boone: Switched to Congressional race March 7, 2012.
  • Democratic candidates whose names briefly appeared on the offical list of Texas Democratic Senate candidates, but which have since been removed, with no explanation given:

  • Eric Roberson
  • John Morton
  • Others

  • Libertarian Jon Roland
  • Independent Mike Champion
  • Texas Senate Race Update for October 28, 2011

    Friday, October 28th, 2011

    A roundup of Texas Senate Race news, some of which I would have reported sooner if my week hadn’t been so packed…

  • Rep. Mike McCaul passes on the race. Big news, and I think the Ted Cruz campaign is heaving a sigh of relief at not having someone as rich as David Dewhurst (but demonstrably more conservative than the Lt. Governor) in the race.
  • Here’s the audio for Ted Cruz’s appearance on the Mark Levin show.
  • He also appeared on KBTV Beaumont:

  • As well as KSKY in Dallas.
  • He also visited Lubbock.
  • David Dewhurst follows Cruz’s lead in calling for an investigation of Fast and Furious:

  • Ricardo Sanchez appears on WFAA in Dallas/Ft. Worth:

    Standard democratic talking points, well-spoken, but delivered in the tone of a slightly bored high school algebra teacher. Gravitas he’s got, but if this is the best he can do charisma wise, I don’t think any of the likely (or even unlikely) Republican candidates have anything to worry about. That accomplished, Sanchez seems to have gone back in hibernation for the rest of the week.

  • Just for the record, I asked the Sanchez campaign why they scrubbed mention of tax cuts from their website…and have received no reply.
  • Robert T. Garrett of the The Dallas Morning News offers up a hard-hitting expose that absolutely nails Cruz…on not doing reporter’s homework for them. The upshot is that Cruz’s father was tortured by and fled the Batista regime rather than Castro’s communist regime. Did Cruz tell his story in a way that led people to believe that his father fled Castro? Yeah, he did. And that’s worth reporting. I can see doing at least a paragraph on that as part of a general article on Cruz. But it doesn’t explain why Garrett felt the need to expend 769 words explaining not that Cruz lied, but that he told an easily misinterpreted truth. Given that he hasn’t lied about anything, and has told the precise story forthrightly upon being questioned about it, it’s hard for me to work up any indignation about people misconstruing one part of a candidate’s father’s history.
  • Garrett seems to suddenly be paying a great deal of attention to Cruz as of late. Here’s his piece of Cruz denouncing the Council on Foreign Relations, even though his wife used to be a member (which, in turn, relies on this Politico piece and this Roll Call piece). Maybe he just noticed Cruz was in the race…
  • Report on the Clear Lake Tea Party rally attended by Herman Cain, Lela Pittenger, and Glenn Addison.
  • Sean Hubbard breaks the $10,000 barrier. That’s actually more active than I expected him to be. (And better than Lela Pittenger.)
  • Curt Cleaver raised $3,208, which is respectable for a longshot, especially considering his late start. (Psst, Curt, handy campaign tip: It actually costs you nothing to update your Facebook and Twitter pages more than once a month…)
  • Andrew Castanuela has raised $1,503. Coming up the rear is Beetlebaum Stanley Garza with $200…of which he’s spent $199. Got to save up for that big ad blitz…
  • Texas Senate Race Updates for October 19, 2011

    Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
  • Ted Cruz appeared on the Mike Berry radio show:

    Great line: “Where is it written that Republicans have to be spineless jellyfish?”

  • Cruz will also be (is?) appearing on the Mark Levin show at 7:30 PM.
  • According to an email from the New Revolution Now folks, Cruz won the straw poll for the Tyler candidate forum, with 39%, Glenn Addison came in second with 30%, Lela Pettinger took third with 18%, and Tom Leppert took fourth with 10% (which is, I think, an improvement from his previous straw poll performances). David Dewhurst, Elizabeth Ames Jones, and Ricardo Sanchez all polled less than 1%. And Jones was scheduled to be at the forum…
  • Leppert’s Q3 FEC report is up.
  • Addison raised $35,059 for the Q3 fundraising quarter. This brings his total fundraising up to $60,486, and he has $35,557 on hand. While that amount will not cause Dewhurst or Cruz to lose sleep, it’s still impressive for a longshot candidate. It’s also more than a third what ostensibly “serious” candidate Ricardo Sanchez raised this quarter, and Addison did it without (as far as I can tell) a professional campaign staff or professional fundraisers. If someone with Addison’s intelligence and drive were competing in the Democratic primary, Sanchez would be in serious trouble…
  • David Dewhurst has reorganized his Senate campaign staff. That’s seldom a sign of overwhelming confidence.
  • A minor Ft. Worth Star-Telegram piece on the Cruz-Dewhurst battle.
  • The Wall Street Journal does a piece on the Tom Leppert-occupy Wall Street story, clarifying that Washington Mutual, upon whose board Leppert sat, didn’t receive a bailout, but that J.P. Morgan Chase, which absorbed WaMu assets at a deep discount after WaMu melted down, did.
  • Pettinger is appearing at a campaign event with Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain on October 25. Though sponsored by the Clear Lake Tea Party, the even is actually in La Marque.
  • An Andrew Castanuela sighting in Lubbock.
  • Curt Cleaver…hasn’t update his Facebook or Twitter feeds since September 15, preventing me from completing the Republican Senate Candidate Longshot News Perfecta.
  • Still, that’s more recently than Ricardo Sanchez updated his news page.
  • Both Sanchez and Sean Hubbard (according to his Facebook page) will be speaking at the Dallas County Democratic Party’s Annual Fish Fry Friday, October 21. Strangely enough, however, Sanchez’s name is the only one on the flyer.
  • Sorry, absolutely no Stanley Garza news to be had. Believe me, I looked.
  • Finally, according to his Facebook and Twitter feeds, Glenn Addison became a grandfather today. Congratulations!
  • Texas Senate Race Update for August 10, 2011

    Wednesday, August 10th, 2011

    A few senate race updates for these dog days of summer:

  • There will be a Clear Lake Tea Party senate candidate forum Thursday, August 11. Expected to attend are Ted Cruz, Glenn Addison, Tom Leppert, Elizabeth Ames Jones, Andrew Castanuela and Lela Pittenger.
  • Ricardo Sanchez has come out of hibernation to give a speech at UT. The Houston Chronicle story is a bit better, but still long of Democratic party platitudes and short on policy specifics.
  • There are rumblings that Craig James may jump into the Senate race, but I don’t see it happening; I don’t see him being able to make any headway against Cruz and Dewhurst. (Psssst, Michael O’Brien! Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, Comptroller Susan Combs, and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples aren’t running for the Senate, they’re all eying the Lt. Governor’s and (depending on what happens with Perry and Dewhurst’s respective runs) Governor’s races in 2014.)
  • Senate Race Update for July 13, 2011

    Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

    There’s two big senate race shoes waiting to drop over the rest of July: The announcement (whatever it is) Dewhurst is going to make on July 18, and FEC releasing Q2 fundraising results. In the meantime, here’s a smattering of senate race news

  • Paul Burka with (another) not very insightful Senate race update, saying Dewhurst will just bulldoze the field by carpet-bombing with money. “Cruz has a great reputation as a lawyer but little else.” Yeah, nothing else except the endorsement of just about every prominent conservative that’s weighed in on the race, most of the Tea Party, and national media buzz. There have been plenty of big-money “sure thing” candidates who couldn’t close the deal with actual voters. Which brings us to…
  • Ross Ramsey at the Texas Tribune on Dewhurst’s long shadow. Best quote: “David Dewhurst might be the safest bet for the U.S. Senate since former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.” Heh.
  • Tom Leppert says he’s in the race for the long haul.
  • Roger Jones at The Dallas Morning News says that history is against Leppert, pointing out that Mayors have traditionally done poorly in statewide races.
  • There was evidently a Texas Senate Candidate Forum hosted by the San Antonio Tea Party on July 9th that included Ted Cruz, Tom Leppert, Elizebeth Ames Jones, Glenn Addison, Lela Pittenger, and Andrew Castanuela, but I can’t find any reports on it anywhere online.
  • Cruz won the San Antonio Tea Party straw poll there.
  • Cruz was also endorsed by George P. Bush, son of Jeb, nephew of Bush43, grandson of Bush41, and co-founder of Hispanic Republicans of Texas. (Cruz is, of course, a member.) That can’t hurt, especially if he can steer some of the Bush clan’s legendary fundraising prowess Cruz’s way.
  • Cruz was also endorsed by not one, not two, but three former Republican Party of Texas chairs: Cathie Adams, Tina Benkiser, and George Strake. Those are all good names to have in your corner.
  • Since I mentioned Glenn Addison, take a look at his campaign schedule. He can’t win this race, but that’s the schedule of a man who’s serious about trying.
  • As if Ricardo Sanchez didn’t have enough troubles running as a Democrat in an overwhelmingly Republican state, the Islamic Republic of Iran wants to try him in absentia for war crimes. They also want to try Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Gen. Tommy Franks, and Gen. David Petraeus, so he’s in good company…
  • Texas Senate Race Updates for May 27, 2011

    Friday, May 27th, 2011

    It being the Friday of a long weekend, I doubt terribly many people are going to be reading this, but there have been some significant Texas Senate race developments:

  • Houston State Senator (and former sports caster) Dan Patrick is considering running for the Senate seat currently held by Kay Baily Hutchison. He was rumored to be considering a run back when Hutchison announced her retirement in January, but he’s been mum on the issue during most of the current Texas legislative session. He announced that he was forming an exploratory committee on Laura Ingraham’s talk radio show this morning. As anyone who reads this blog knows, he’s joining a crowded field, but he does fill the niche as a full-bore cultural Christian conservative that none of the other declared candidates (save longshot Glenn Addison) really fill. With Ted Cruz and Tom Leppert already off to significant head starts, Patrick will have to do some serious fundraising if he wants to be competitive. Patrick might benefit from some confusion with the other sportscasting Dan Patrick. Many Houston TV viewers remember Patrick as a sportscaster from the “Luv Ya Blu” era Houston Oilers era of the late 1970s and early 1980s. (I have vague memories of Dan Patrick being thrown out a door during a dust-up with then Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini, but I may be misremembering one or both of the people involved.[2014 Update: Actually, I talked to Dan Patrick, and while he watched it happen, it wasn’t him, but rather Houston Post reporter Dale Robertson, who Pastorini threw out.]
  • Speaking of Addison, he’s complaining that The Texas Tribune is excluding him from an upcoming debate. Actually, I can see both sides on this issue. Certainly The Texas Tribune, as a private organization, can use any criteria they want to determine who a “serious” candidate is, and the one they chose (someone had to have raised at least $100,000 by March 31) is both objective and defensible. Plus the more crowded any debate, the less time potential voters have to assess any one candidate. On the other hand, the idea that fundraising should be the only gating factor in determining electability is entirely too reductive for a robust democratic process. My suggestion? Have the political equivalent of a “play in” game. Reserve one spot for a declared candidate who does not meet the $100,000 threshold criteria (Addison, Lela Pittinger, Andrew Castanuela, or Sean Hubbard) and then let people vote online for who to include. That would give the longshots a chance to be seen, and add interest to the proceedings…
  • Michael Williams recently traveled to Washington, D.C. to raise money for his campaign.
  • Williams also appeared to answer questions from the NE Tarrant Tea Party. Pssst, NETarrantTeaParty1: It’s called a “tripod.” Invest in one.
  • Ted Cruz wins a straw poll of Houston Republican women. However, he gets dinged by The Race to Replace KBH for an ad misrepresenting that straw poll win as an endorsement (Republican Women’s Clubs bylaws forbid endorsing primary candidates). The ad was corrected shortly thereafter.
  • Speaking of Cruz, he got some serious love from Terry Jeffrey over at The Heritage Foundation’s Townhall.
  • Roger Williams appears on the Matt Lewis show. Williams comes on just after eight minutes in.
  • Elizabeth Ames Jones slams the Obama administration for their energy policy. “The demand for oil is not going away just because some bureaucrats have the ill-conceived or ill-informed idea that all our energy needs can be met by green energy.” I still don’t think Jones has a real chance in the race, but she seems strongest when talking about oil and gas issues. Maybe it’s a good thing that she hasn’t resigned from the Railroad Commission…
  • She also gets profiled in the Round Rock Leader.
  • LinkSwarm for Friday, May 6, 2011: Immigration, the NYT, and Tom Leppert’s SEIU Ties

    Friday, May 6th, 2011

    A small LinkSwarm for a lazy Friday:

  • Mickey Kaus: “Why do these Democrats tell pollsters that immigrants are a burden because they ‘take our jobs’? Maybe because they do. Just a thought.”
  • The New York Times gets the Texas Senate Race, well, not quite right. “So far, only Republicans have declared in the Senate race.” False. Political neophyte Sean Hubbard has declared for the Democratic nomination, and has been filing his campaign financing reports with the FEC. “At least seven Republicans are vying for the seat being vacated by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.” Technically true but incomplete; there are five declared major candidates (Ted Cruz, Tom Leppert, Michael Williams, Roger Williams, and Elizabeth Ames Jones), three declared longshot candidates (Glenn Addison, Andrew Castanuela, and Lela Pettinger), one withdrawn candidate who filed her wind-down report with the FEC (Florence Shapiro) and one undeclared potential frontrunner (David Dewhurst). Saying “At least seven” makes me wonder exactly who you’re counting…
  • The Race to Replace KBH on Senate candidate Twitter antagonists. “Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite them/And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so on ad infinitum…”
  • From the same source we also learn that Leppert asked for, and received, the endorsement of the far-left SEIU.
  • More on Leppert’s SEIU support from the horse-mouth, SEIU Texas political coordinator Shannon Perez in the lefty Dallas Observer:

    “The Republican primary voters of the state of Texas need to know the truth about Tom Leppert.
    When he first ran for Mayor, as a moderate and a supporter of working men and women, he was pro-SEIU, pro-public employees organizing, pro-collective bargaining.
    So committed to these ideals was Tom, that he vigorously pursued SEIU’s endorsement.
    So committed to these ideals was Tom, that he came to our union organizing launch in the Water Department — encouraging folks to join SEIU. So committed to these ideals was Tom, he frequently threw on an SEIU T-shirt and came to our union hall…Tom even signed an SEIU membership card!

    Tom, Tom, Tom, it makes it hard to take your Second-Coming-of-Ronald-Reagan rhetoric seriously when stuff like this keeps tumbling out of your closet. Is it too late for you to switch to the Democratic Primary? You’ve already got a huge lead over Sean Hubbard…

  • Texas 2012 Senate Race Websites (and Tidbits)

    Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

    Note: A more detailed and up-to-date list of Texas Senate Candidate Websites can be found here.

    For today’s 2012 Texas Senate Race coverage, I thought I would provide a handy list of all the candidate’s own websites (listed alphabetically).

    Websites for 2012 Republican Senate Candidates

  • Ted Cruz
  • David Dewhurst has not announced he’s running yet, so here’s his official Lieutenant Governor’s page
  • Elizabeth Ames Jones
  • Tom Leppert
  • Michael Williams
  • Roger Williams
  • Since I’m trying to provide a complete lineup, here are some very, very longshots that have declared for the Republican primary:

  • Glenn Addison
  • Andrew Castanuela
  • Lela Pittenger
  • I’ve seen reports that a Nick Latham is running (he declared in 2009), but it’s hard to take him seriously as even a longshot candidate when all the links on his website are 404.

    Websites for 2012 Democratic Senate Candidates

    Through diligent research, I have finally found an actual, declared candidate for the Democratic nomination. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you your de facto Democratic Senate front-runner, Sean Hubbard. Yes, it’s a Facebook page. I was able to reach Hubbard by email, and he says he’s just waiting for the domain transfer for his actual campaign website to go through. To his credit, that Facebook page has been updated recently, which puts him one up on John Sharp. (Actually, it appears that a few other people have finally posted encouragement on Sharp’s Facebook page, although Sharp himself still hasn’t posted in more than a year.) One problem facing Hubbard is that Texas voters might be a little hesitant to vote for someone who looks like he still gets carded trying to buy a beer…

    As for other Democratic Senate candidates, I sent email to Sharp to see if he was running and received no reply. I emailed Chet Edwards today, but there hasn’t been much time for him to get back to me. I see Chris Bell’s name being bandied about, but his law firm doesn’t have an e-mail address for him, and it seems rude to bug him by phone.

    Supposedly there’s a transsexual bodybuilder named Chris Tina Bruce running as an independent, but I can’t find a campaign website. Given the paucity of Democratic candidates, I’m not sure why Bruce doesn’t just declare for the Democratic primary, as the field is wide open…

    And finally a dollop of Senate race tidbits:

  • Ted Cruz says he has raised (extend Dr. Evil pinkie) one MILLION dollars for his campaign.
  • Tom Leppert says he’s raised $2.6 million…but that includes a $1.6 million loan from himself to his campaign.
  • Ted Cruz gets some serious love from The Weekly Standard.