I know, I know, you’re thinking, of course! But honestly, I approached the race to unseat Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst with a very open mind. I met each of the candidates. I listened to their arguments. Some of those arguments are valid. At the end of the day, however, none of the candidates were able to overcome the single most important issue in this race: David Dewhurst has a record that can’t be beat.
You can talk about term limits and one vote here or there but you can’t honestly do that without talking about the Texas miracle. There is a reason that Texas is number one in jobs and economic activity and a large part of that reason is David’s ability to understand the Texas economy and apply legislation that increases economic activity. I’ll never forget the time that David called into Dan Patrick’s radio show (circa 2005) during Dan’s campaign to send all of the money in the Rainy Day Fund back to taxpayers and explaining to him and the listeners why that was a terrible idea. Dan learned the lesson so well that he is now a champion of keeping the Rainy Day Fund intact. No other elected official in Texas can talk about the Texas economy and how the budget affects it on a level even close to David. The San Antonio Express News also recognizes this:
Dewhurst is a serious man who digs deep into the state issues. He actually enjoys working on complex policy decisions….
Dewhurst is a true conservative, and he has the best interest of Texas at heart.
And after listening to his professional staff in his loss to Ted Cruz, David has ditched their advice and is now one of the most accessible politicians you will find. And he’s not just accessible, he actually listens and understands the concerns of the various groups that he talks to. All during that campaign, I kept imploring David to just be David. And that has worked so well during this campaign that some of the most vicious campaigners against him during that losing campaign are now publicly endorsing him and working hard for his campaign.
Look, David is never going to be a great, bloviating orator like our current President. But he is a down to earth guy that can sit in on the back porch or in a boardroom and talk policy for hours and help you to understand policy and how to implement it effectively.
The other guys in the race all have good attributes that they would bring to the office. Jerry Patterson is a rock solid conservative that never wavers on anything. Todd Staples would bring a lot of energy to the office. And Dan Patrick’s fiery personality would allow him to drive the media message for his brand of conservatism.
But none of these men have made the case that Texas would be better off with them in charge. None of these men have a record that can match David’s.
For that reason, I’m sticking with David Dewhurst and voting to give him another term as Lt. Governor of Texas. I think that after you get past the rhetoric of the campaign and look at David’s solid record, you too will vote for him.
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