I had two separate science fiction conventions to go to (Worldcon in Reno, and Armadillocon here in Austin) back to back, plus some personal upheavals, so it’s taking me some time to get back in the swing of things. So here are some quick Senate race updates for the last two weeks:
Posts Tagged ‘Ted Cruz’
Texas Senate Race Update for September 2, 2011
Friday, September 2nd, 2011Texas Senate Race Update for August 10, 2011
Wednesday, August 10th, 2011A few senate race updates for these dog days of summer:
My Interview With Ted Cruz (And Related Thoughts)
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011Here’s the video edit of my interview with Ted Cruz (click for a larger version on YouTube):
(I think I should have sucked in my gut more.)
After the interview, Cruz said that he reads the blog (which I believe, as I’ve interacted with several members of his campaign who read the blog over the past few months). I said that I started covering the race so closely mainly because the MSM was doing such a poor job of it. He agreed, and said that people wouldn’t start paying attention until the last week. I think he’s right.
Honestly, I have no real issue or ideological concerns with Cruz. If elected, I think he would easily be the best senator Texas has had since Phil Gramm. I do have some small minor concerns with him as a candidate (see this post for some context on the below points). A lot of the things I quibble over is Cruz following standard “How to Campaign 101.” However, I think they may not work as well as in the past for this year, and this particular race.
Again, keep in mind this is coming from someone who’s observing Cruz more closely than 99.9% of primary voters ever will. I think Cruz is still far and away the candidate that most closely fits William F. Buckley’s definition of who people should vote for, namely “the most conservative viable candidate.”
Thanks again to Ted Cruz (and his campaign) for allowing me the opportunity to interview him.
I have a longer audio version of this interview, covering more topics, I hope to put up later this week
Random Reflections on a Very Busy Saturday
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011My entire weekend was quite booked, for both political and non-political reasons:
Given the packed schedule, I haven’t had time to jot down some additional observations until now. Expect these to be slightly disjointed.
The Cruz campaign volunteered to film the interview with their A/V guy (and given the flakiness of my Flip Mino, I readily agreed), so the interview will go up shortly after they send me the file. Here’s a pic I snapped of Cruz right after the interview and before we all hustled over to the capitol annex auditorium for the forum:
Cruz himself seems like a bright, articulate, and very likable guy, which is exactly what you would expect from someone who regularly presents arguments before the Supreme Court. He’s a solid ideological conservative, and I think he has a very good chance of being the next Senator from Texas. However, I do have some minor concerns about his presentation, some of which may be real, some of which stem from the differences between early and late primary campaigns, and some of which may simply be the product of watching Cruz more closely than 99.9% of the Texas electorate ever will. Some of those judgment are below, and others I’ll put up when I run the interview.
One guideline to remember when interacting with serious political figures (and well-funded candidate for the United States Senate is very serious indeed) is “nothing personnel,” in both the positive and negative senses of that phrase. The scheduling and attention demands on a candidate’s time are all but overwhelming, resulting in coping strategies for dealing effectively with people when 12-16 hours of a candidate’s day, every day, are spoken for from the moment they get up in the morning.
As such, when a politician firmly shakes your hand, looks you in the eye, and calls you by your first name, you should neither be impressed (“Wow! He knows my name!”) or disgruntled because you know he does the same for everyone he meets. Likewise, you can’t take offense when they segue from your question to one of their stock talking points.
Thanks to a SNAFU in communication, I arrived at the capitol annex auditorium (which is under the Capitol), but when I called Cruz campaign manager John Drogin, he apologized and said we were doing the interview at a meeting room in the Cruz campaign headquarters (in an office building a short walk from the capitol). Which was just as well, since the echoing acoustics outside the the auditorium would have sounded horrible on tape. So I trekked over there.
Before the interview, I hung out in the hallway with several Cruz staffers (whose names I don’t trust my memory get exactly right) and fellow blogger Matt S. Dowling (who, I see on his site, also has an interview with Cruz coming up). Drogin was in constant motion doing this and that.
I don’t think anything we discussed was privileged insider information. We talked some about our backgrounds in politics, the way the race developed, etc. We talked about the mysterious silence of The Race to Replace Kay Baily Hutchison (which seemed to go silent right about the time Michael Williams started to think about switching races), various skeletons in Tom Leppert’s closest (“If he met with ACORN and the SEIU, who else did he meet with?”), and other sundry political topics.
By the time Cruz finished his meeting, there was only about 25 minutes left to do the interview, so I didn’t get to as many questions as I would like. I’m not complaining, since I’ve been trying to interview Cruz for a while, and would have been content with an email interview.
While Cruz is the first to agree to an interview, he’s not the first I’ve asked. I actually started asking for interviews with all the candidates, in the order they declared their candidacy, months ago. I never heard back from the Elizabeth Ames Jones, Roger Williams, or Michael Williams campaigns. I did hear back from the Cruz campaign early on, but it was a matter of finding the time for the interview. The Cruz and Leppert campaigns have consistently seemed the most organized and professional throughout the race. (With his late start, I haven’t had a chance to observe the quality of the Dewhurst campaign yet.)
Speaking of Dewhurst, I chatted briefly with Drogin about his chances. He pointed out how other high spending Senate campaigns, like those of Carly Fiorina and Linda McMahon, couldn’t close the deal. But I’m not sure how applicable those two candidates are, since both were political newcomers and neither had run a successful statewide race before.
The interview went well (with the caveats above), and I’ll talk more about that when I put up the video. Afterwords all of us hustled over to the capitol for the candidates forum, which started a little late.
The most interesting non-interview tidbit I learned from Cruz is that he’s a Robert A. Heinlein fan, which naturally warmed the cockles of my science fiction writer’s heart.
There was a distinct anti-Dewhurst sentiment to the event, even before the forum started, as these protesters outside the auditorium show:
There was even a blank seat at the table with a Dewhurst placard, and a few times during the forum the MC would ask a question of the absent Dewhurst for comic effect.
Somehow I get the impression that Texas Tea Party members are not wild about Mr. Dewhurst.
A few random impressions of the forum:
After dinner, I grabbed a ride back to the capitol visitors parking lot to get my car after eating at an Italian place on Congress. In there I ran into candidate Glenn Addison. I introduced myself and my blog, and snapped this picture of him:
We talked for a few minutes. I told him he was doing well in fundraising.
Addison: Well, I don’t know about that.
Me: For a longshot candidate.
Given that, I asked why he was running for the Senate we he might do very well in a county or state level race. He said that he wasn’t called to those races, but was called to this one, citing Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and saying that the Senate was one place an ordinary American could have a powerful effect. Then we went our separate ways.
I hope to do a post on Addison and his campaign later this week.
And that was the end of my (political) day.
Liveblogging the Austin Texas Senate Candidate Forum
Saturday, July 30th, 20115:30: I have to duck out for another appointment. Hopefully some further thoughts tomorrow.
5:29: Pettinger: Will filibuster any new organizations, opposes executive orders, Czar. Would eliminate Dept of Health and Human Services.
I’m surrounded by several young children who are amazingly well behaved.
5:26: Q to Addison: Advise and Consent: “What comes to my mind is treaties.” Sounded like trees. Favors fair trade, opposes tree trade. “The government has been in my way for 42 years.”
5:26: Q to Leppert: Separation of church and state. Hugo Black invented phrase in 1946. Go back to Constitution.
5:24: “The floodgates must be closed.” Favors legal immigration, opposes illegal immigration.”
5:22: Q to Addison: Secure the border: Posse Comitatus should be amended to allow citizen capture, Bring troops home from Germany and Japan.” Wild applause. “Obey the law and come in legally.” Addison is passionate speaker, and I wish he was running for lower office.
5:20: Followup Q. Shouldn’t it be the electorate? Look at John Quincy Adams, who went back to the House to fight slavery.
5:18: Q to Pettinger: “Support term limits?” “Yes, but we need term limits on bureaucrats.” Eric Holder was there 20 years. Limit time in federal bureaucracy.
5:17: Spoke on April 15, 2009. Senior thesis based on the 9th and 10th Amendment. Lots of small meetings.
5:15: Q to Cruz: “It’s vogue to be a Tea Party candidate. How many Tea Parties did you attend when you didn’t speak? Set up chairs, table, etc.” Interesting question.
5:13: What right does the federal government has to regulate the 2nd Amendment: “No.” “Do we have the right to own a Tomahawk Cruise missile?” “You can take it to ridiculous lengths.”
5: 12: Q to Leppert: 2nd Amendment. 2nd is the rule. Strong proponent. Basis of our nation.
5:11: What legislation for commerce clause: “Repeal ObamaCare, shrink the government, pass balanced budget amendment.”
5:10: Followup to Cruz: How will you meet with citizens: Traveled all over the state to build conservative grass roots army. Stop the Obama agenda.
5:08: Q to Cruz: Commerce clause, Wickard vs. Fillburn (which Cruz brought up in our interview): “The commerce clause has been the most significant vehicle for the expansion of the federal government.” Worst decision ever, paved way for ObamaCare. Brings back up record again. Look at record leading coalition of states to strike down Endangered Species Act.
5:07: Pettinger: No elected office, but has lived her values. Not bad response.
5:03: Q to Pettinger: 14th Amendment birthright citizenship. Originally passed because they were brought here in a murderous way. Not applicable for illegal immigration today. Need to see birth certificate. Need clarification on 14th amendment. May need Const. Amendment.
5:00: Q to Addison: What department would you eliminate: Dept of Ed, even though that was excluded from Q. Said he worked on local ed board. Also Medicaid. Block grants. “After verifying citizenship, use as you see fit.” States are incubators of democracy. Let states compete. “You can vote state reps out. You can’t vote out a bureaucrat.”
4:58: Leppert: “Education is the civil rights record of our time. Abolish Dept. of Education.” Use education as an issue. Used on money on scholarships for tough areas. Empower local area, implement choice, real standards.
4:57: Questioner really wants detail on black outreach. “Make the case for those wanting to climb the ladder. The left’s policies don’t work.”
Cruz gives his father’s story.
4:55: Q to Cruz: Republican appeals to “people of color” [I hate that phrase-LP]: “Our future is short-lived if we don’t attract minorities, but you don’t do that by watering down your conservative principles.”
Cruz: Took lead in intervening in Beaumont gay marriage divorce case.
Addison: “Do whatever you want in the privacy of your own home, but don’t ruin the godly word of marriage.”
Leppert: “Marriage is one man and one woman.”
4:52: Q to Pettinger: Gay marriage amendment. Pettinger: Gay marriage advocates are suing Christians in the marriage industry. We need an amendment.”
4:52: Addison says he has to have different corporations for his funeral homes, his cemeteries, and his crematoriums.
4:51: Leppert echos call for flat tax
4:50: Pettinger: “We need a flat tax. If 10% is good enough for God, it’s good enough for us.”
4:49: Q to Cruz: “What’s the proper level of taxation?” Cruz: “As low as possible.” Need to move to a flat tax or fair tax.
4:49: Leppert: A sense of values.
4:48: Pettinger: “The foundation is firm, the house on it is rickety.”
4:47: Cruz trots out his Ashcroft bit. “If I’m accused of being a Christian I hope they have enough evidence to convict me.” Ditto for conservatism.
4:46: Q to Addison: “Defining conservatism” “Federal power must be reduced.”
Keep in mind these are paraphrasing answers. I can’t type that fast!
4:45: Pettinger: “I’m the only one who’s given birth. I can stand down the feminists.”
4:44: Cruz: I fought for the unborn on the Supreme Court.
4:43: Addison shows cell-phone pic of his unborn daughter.
4:42: Q to Leppert: “Support overturning Roe v. Wade.” Leppert: Yes.
4:42: Cruz: “My daughters were born tens of thousands of dollars in debt. The guys fighting the debt have endorsed me.” DeMint, Rand Paul, etc.
4:41: Addison: “The founding fathers were terribly bothered by debt.”
4:40: Leppert: “The reality is we have to look at the future obligations, which makes the debt between $70-$90 trillion, $700,000 per household.” [mental typo corrected…]
4:39: Q to Pettinger: “Proper level of federal debt” “Zero.”
4:38: Pettinger is a fiery speaker.
4:37: Q to Cruz: “Define Federalism.” “Limit the size and scope of the federal government. Repeal every syllable of ObamaCare.”
4:36: “And now for David Dewhurst. Oh wait, he’s not here.”
4:35: “You’re eligible to be Senator at 30 and there’s not one under 40.”
4:35: Pettinger: slams recycling of old candidates.
4:34: Addison is a good speaker. Better than EAJ, who isn’t here.
4:33: Addison: “I’m tired of having career politicians tell me how to vote.”
4:32: Seems like he’s trying to cram his regular speech into 90 seconds.
4:31: Leppert next. Thanks audience for coming out. “We need to be honest. We’re moving toward insolvency.” Slams political class. Speaking a little too fast.
4:30: Ted Cruz opening remarks. Quotes extensively from Dec. of Independence. Says Obama is “the most radical President in our history.”
4:29: Still figuring out how to right-click the MacBook trackpad, so forgive any spelling errors.
4:28: Introducing the interviewers.
4:27: More tepid for Leppert, loud and boisterous for Pettinger.
4:26: Good applause for Addison, better for Cruz.
4:24: This will be the first time I’ve seen Andrew Castanuela [Heard beforehand he would be here, but he wasn’t] and Glenn Addison, and the first time I’ve seen Lela Pettinger on stage.
4:23: 90 minute introductory remarks, 60 second question answers. Terse.
4:22: “David Dewhurst won’t be here. I’m assuming he will be auditioning for The Biggest Loser.”
4:20 PM: Introductory remarks still going on. Co-sponsored by the Austin and Llano Tea Parties.
Just finished interviewing Ted Cruz. Will attempt to liveblog the Austin Texas Senate Candidate Forum.
Texas Senate Race Update for July 29, 2011
Friday, July 29th, 2011A few tidbits of Texas senate race news for a lazy Friday:
Texas Senate Race Updates For July 26, 2011
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011I’ve been meaning to do a general Senate Race update all weekend, but things have been hopping:
By now, if you have read this far, it should be clear that Mr. Leppert is not some wild-eyed liberal trying to pick the pockets of the taxpayer. You wouldn’t know that if you listened to the self-appointed RINO hunters in the Texas Republican party. Gawd I hate that term.
Hmmm. I may resemble that remark…
Dewhurst is In
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011Tom Leppert says he considers Dewhurst, not Ted Cruz, his main competition. Which is what you would expect him to say.
More details and reactions tomorrow.