Cruz Attacks Backfire As Small Donors Flock To O'Rourke

[DonViejo]

Matthew Chapman

August 7, 2018 4:00 am

The Texas Senate race is shaping up to be a much more interesting battle than anyone could have predicted. Between Democratic El Paso Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s prodigious grassroots fundraising and his relentless personal tours of all 254 counties in the Lone Star State, he has turned the race against infamous Texas Sen. Ted Cruz competitive, with a recent Texas Lyceum poll showing the race within 2 percentage points.

Cruz responded to news of the tight race with three separate ads attacking O’Rourke on Friday. One spot tells viewers that O’Rourke is “more extreme than he wants you to know,” and that his immigration proposals are to the left of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. Another falsely claims that O’Rourke said “we should consider legalizing all narcotics, including heroin.”

But the result of Cruz’s negative ad blitz is likely not what he was hoping for. Over the weekend after the ads were released, O’Rourke raised an astonishing $1.2 million from 39,000 grassroots contributions. “I turned to you, and asked for your help in raising the money to make sure that I can stay on the road and continue to listen to our fellow Texans,” he said in a video address to supporters on Monday announcing the campaign haul. “To make sure that we can get our message out on TV, and be a big, bold, confident, strong answer to these small, petty, negative attack ads.”

Link to tweet

At the outset, Cruz did not appear to regard O’Rourke as a serious challenger. One of his first public acknowledgments of his opponent was a radio ad criticizing O’Rourke for using his childhood nickname. But the new deluge of attack ads — and his offer to hold five debates with O’Rourke in the coming weeks — indicates that he now views the race as much more of a threat.

His attempts to address that threat so far, however, hardly appear to be helping him.

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http://www.nationalmemo.com/cruz-attacks-backfire-as-small-donors-flock-to-orourke/

[exboyfil]

1. Beto should see if one of the Sandy Hook

parents would like to join him on the campaign trail. Cruz wedding himself with that slime ball Alex Jones should be an opening for decent people to say "enough".

[dalton99a]

5. Excellent idea

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. Beto is telling Rafael that the Senate seat is "not his"......

But belongs to the people, as he is talking with THEM, asking THEM the tough questions about what issues matter to THEM.

Something Rafael Eduardo Cruz does not know how to do. THAT is why this race is neck and neck.

[ananda]

3. It's not exactly neck and neck.

But it's closer than usual.

Cruz is expected to win by high single digits.

Beto is doing much better than any other dem has done
in quite a while, and this could make a difference in
down ballot races and in energizing the party apparatus
to make significant improvements.

[Gothmog]

4. Yeah for Beto

[Fred Sanders]

7. Apparently the mid-term "strategy" for the fascists is to reboot the Big Red Menace bogey man

of the '50s, repackaged as "left wing socialism".

I say, go for it.

[NoMoreRepugs]

6. Beto has momentum.... as long as that continues the gap will narrow.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. "radio ad criticizing O'Rourke for using his childhood nickname."

Just like "Ted" isn't his own first name either, which is Rafael?

[marble falls]

9. Now if they only flock to the polls!

[oasis]

10. Trump's recent limitation on "legal" immigrants will likely piss of

what was left of GOP Hispanics. This gut punch reveals the purely racist motives of Trump and should silence any remaining apologists.