Archive for the ‘Texas’ Category
Texas Senate Race Update for October 11, 2011
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011Fast and Furious Update For October 10, 2011
Monday, October 10th, 2011You know, when I started doing Fast and Furious updates, I didn’t realize I’d have to update this daily. But events are moving at a pretty brisk pace:
Finally, not related at all (except also involving guns), but I wanted to point out that Adam Winkler, author of Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America, points out that yes, the roots of gun control in America are racist in nature.
LinkSwarm for October 6, 2011
Thursday, October 6th, 2011A smattering of news on this and that:
Cruz, Dewhurst Trade Punches
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011I think it’s safe to say that Ted Cruz now has David Dewhurst’s attention.
First came the Chupacabra ad, then news of the National Review cover. Then yesterday, the Cruz campaign noted that Dewhurst floated the idea of a wage tax (i.e., a thinly disguised income tax) back in 2005.
Today the Dewhurst campaign stepped down from the Ivory Tower to punch back, calling attention to a story that Cruz, in his career as a private appellate lawyer, represented a Chinese firm in a patent dispute with an American firm, and to an interview with Laura Ingraham in which he expressed opposition to a Senate bill that seeks sanctions against China for currency manipulation. (A complete transcript of the Ingraham show appearance can be found here.)
Here’s the exact language from Steven Cheung of Dewhurst for Texas:
The day after Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka reported on Ted Cruz acting as legal counsel to a Chinese company accused of patent infringement against an American inventor, Cruz again showed his true colors by again defending China’s interests on the Laura Ingraham Show. To check out our latest video that has highlights, please click here.
By standing on the same side as President Barack Obama, a fellow elitist, Harvard attorney with zero business experience, Cruz and Obama strongly oppose a bill that would curb China’s predatory trade and currency practices in a time when they are taking over ownership of the American economy.
“It’s about holding China accountable for what China is doing that is completely without integrity and subverting the principles of free trade,” said Ingraham. Moments later, Ingraham correctly declared, “Obama’s with you on this bill!”
At a time when millions of Americans are without jobs, why does Ted Cruz consistently put the needs of China before America?
To my mind, this is fairly weak sauce by the Dewhurst campaign, and the tone is overreaching. Representing clients is what lawyers do, and it’s not like Cruz is working pro bono for convicted terrorists.
And I happen to be on Cruz’s side on the China bill, as are (as far as I can tell) the vast majority of conservitive commentators and economists. Sure, China manilpulates it’s currency…but so do we, Europe, and just about everyone else. Protectionism is still loser economics, and starting a trade war in the midst of a recession is not a great idea.
Whether these criticisms will play with Republican primary voters is another question. Tom Leppert’s been using the lawyer line of attack on Cruz without any notable effect for months now, but China bashing is seldom unpopular; it’s also, as far as I can tell, seldom an effective wedge issue, either.
But it’s interesting to note that the gloves have finally come off for the Dewhurst campaign. I don’t think his soi distant Ivory Tower approach was going to tide him over until he could carpet-bomb the primary with big direct mail and ad buys. Despite Dewhurst’s status as presumptive frontrunner, Cruz continues to make noise and rack up conservative endorsements both locally and nationally.
The Dewhurst campaign seems to have finally realized they have a fight on their hands.
Texas Senate Race Update for Thursday, September 29, 2011
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
LinkSwarm for September 27, 1011.
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011Texas Senate Race Update for September 23, 2011
Friday, September 23rd, 2011Interview With Texas Senate Candidate Tom Leppert
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011After my interview with Ted Cruz, I was contacted by the Tom Leppert campaign in late August and asked if I wanted to do an interview with Leppert. And they did this despite my very public doubts over several aspects of Leppert’s record. Leppert’s comments on the campaign trail have always been very solidly conservative; my doubts have been over how much Leppert’s actions match his rhetoric. So I agreed to do an interview, after which is was just a matter of finding a date and time when he would be in Austin, which turned out to be Monday, September 19.
From shortly after each of them jumped into the campaign, Cruz and Leppert have been neck and neck in who has the most effective campaign organization, with both seeming very polished and professional. (David Dewhurst’s start was late enough that I haven’t yet collected enough data to make a determination. So far I’m more than little skeptical that the “Ivory Tower” strategy of avoiding the candidate forums is the right choice.) Early on, I sought to get interviews with all of the major Republican Senate candidates, starting in the order they joined the race. I heard absolutely nothing back from the campaigns of Roger Williams, Michael Williams, or Elizabeth Ames Jones, not even the polite “our candidate is really busy but we’ll see if we can work something in” blogger brushoff. By contrast it’s been very easy and hassle free to get information out of the Cruz and Leppert campaigns.
As I mention in the interview itself, this was designed so be a mixture of general and specific questions, as well as mixture of softball and hardball questions.
A few observations:
I expect to have more information on Leppert (both positive and negative) in the next week or so.
Texas State Senator Steve Ogden Won’t Seek Another Term
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011According to the Texas Tribune. Ogden is my state Senator, and it was something of a surprise that he ran in 2010. House District 52 Rep. Larry Gonzalez sent out a press release saying he was running for re-election to the House, but wasn’t looking to run for Ogden’s seat in the Senate. Conversely, Rep. Charles Schwertner of Georgetown announced he’s running for Ogden’s seat. Given how geographically sprawling and diverse Senate District 5 is, it wouldn’t surprise me to see other candidates jump into the race.