With four major declared candidates, you’d think that the race for Texas Lt Governor would be in high gear. Instead, it seems to be four guys talking to themselves and Republican primary voters (RPV’s) not caring much about what they say. Is this just the summer blues and voters will engage after Labor Day? Is it that the candidates are so similar that RPV’s can’t discern between them? Are RPV’s so focused on national issues that they are overlooking this race? I don’t have a clue but let’s take a look at the campaigns, in no particular order.
Dewsastrous phone call
As I noted earlier, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst had a great showing at the Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club. And he’s been working hard all across Texas reaching out to Tea Party groups. His campaign focuses on getting former Ted Cruz supporters to help him. Seems like an odd strategy to me but its a strategy I guess, something that was lacking in his campaign against Cruz. Despite the strategy, he doesn’t seem to be making inroads among grassroots conservatives that are also RPV’s. There is no excitement, no buzz about his campaign when I attend meetings in Harris County.
And no amount of strategy can overcome the Dewsastrous phone call he made trying to throw his influence around and get a step-niece out of jail. if Dewhurst stays in the race, we are going to be bombarded with that recording between January and March 2014. The old saying that all publicity is good publicity doesn’t apply when you are supposed to be the frontrunner. Click here for a taste of the mockery that abounds about that phone call.
Patterson’s social media lead
I saw on Texas Insider that Jerry Patterson had a huge lead in social media. Well….not so fast.
[table id=19 /]
As you can see in that table, Patterson does lead on Facebook by about 25{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} over Dewhurst. And that is probably a good thing since RPV’s tend to be older and Facebook attracts older users. I’m not sure I’d call it huge though. And that table also shows the weakness all of the campaigns have with younger voters, who tend to use Twitter more frequently.
Patterson just released a video that is very good called Washington West. Very good on everything but image. Maybe it is just me but I don’t think that sitting position works.Reminds me of an old geezer sitting on the front porch whiling away the days.
Dannie’s Dewfeed and CScope
Sen. Dan Patrick is doing a good job of getting his name out there. First with his Dewfeed.com website mocking Lt. Gov. Dewhurst, then with his “debate” on CScope with SBOE member Thomas Ratliff. But for all the buzz on “dewfeed.com” in the Texas political media, it hasn’t reached outside of that. If you don’t believe me, just ask the people around you if they’ve heard of it.
The CScope debate helps him a lot with RPV’s, specifically the far, far right that will certainly vote. It will only be a problem for him if one of his opponents points out that what he is doing is removing local control and inserting centralized state government into schools. That will not play well with most Republicans. But thus far, no one has done that.
Staples MIA
The Todd Staples campaign has been a huge letdown thus far. I was hoping that he would bring a lot of energy and excitement into the race with his youth. It hasn’t happened at all – just look at that table above on social media.
Some of the “MIA” could be specific to me because he isn’t focusing on Harris County. But if you do like I do and set up Google Alerts on each of these guys, Staples is rarely in the news. There is just no buzz about him out there and that is the death of a candidate. Perhaps his team is conserving their resources and waiting until high primary season but they should still be trying to gain “free media” exposure.
Elbowing to the right
Where are the big ideas? Big ideas are not the same as big taxation. Where is the vision for the future? Each of the candidates seem to be trying to elbow their way to the right of the others. Well, except Staples – I’m not sure what he’s trying to do. But none of them are talking about big issues or future vision. None of them are trying to expand the party by attracting independents to vote in the primary. The “playing to the base” isn’t helping the party grow and isn’t helping Texas prepare for the future.
C’mon guys, give us a good race. Give us someone to vote for instead of settling for the mediocre.
If you are in Houston, you can see Sen. Patrick tomorrow at the weekly meeting of the Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club. And ask him questions. Like, hey, Senator, you said you were going to run a positive campaign on the issues. What happened?
Stephanie Easley says
Dewhurst did nothing wrong with that phone call. Period. People (opinion, wrong opinions) say he tried to use his influence… yet leave out that the ALLEN PD said "Dewhurst did nothing criminal, he was polite, he was not rude NOR DID HE ASK FOR SPECIAL TREATMENT" So that is how you guys plan on beating this very accomplished (for Texas and personally) man? By saying he did something wrong when he clearly didn't? Wow, you guys will do well when Texas becomes a Democrats state which WILL happen if Dewhurst loses.
As far as Patterson's Facebook having more likes. Yeah, leave out the fact that the way he gets those likes is leaving out the fact that he's running for Lt. Governor, all he simply does is have statements such as, "Do you support the 2nd Amendment? Like Jerry Patterson" or "Do you want fair elections? Like Jerry Patterson," things like that. I know because I see it, and because I know he's just using generalizations to get people to "like" his page, does NOT mean those people support him or even know who the guy is. Case in point, my mother. I asked her "you like Jerry Patterson?" She responded that she had know idea who that was! That's how Patterson is getting those "likes." It's not because there is excitement about that campaign.
I see a lot of excitement about Dewhurst's re-election on Twitter! There are no bigger, better ideas than what Dewhurst has already done for Texas. It's why I support him, he has given my generation something to look forward to, and the confidence that Texas will be a place were I can live up to my fullest potential. I don't get ANY of that when it comes to the other three, I get the opposite. Why? Because they are running against the man who (not by himself, but that doesn't mean he automatically gets zero credit) made it happen! What kind of Texas do they want when they are saying they want to fire the man who's tenure is the Texas Miracle. I will never stop saying, nor let it go, that Texas WILL become California if David Dewhurst is defeated. It'll be over for us. I don't think Dewhurst will lose, because I don't listen to Insiders who want him to lose.
David Jennings says
LOL, you are so wrong when you say "you guys". I was Dewhurst's staunchest supporter against Cruz. To this day I have people that hate me for that. You need to do some basic research.
It doesn't matter what YOU think about that phone call. It matters what the vast majority of Texans think and how it will be used in a political race. You are beyond naive if you think it doesn't matter.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
David
David Jennings says
One more thing. Even I, staunch supporter that I was, would NEVER say that Texas will become California if David loses. That's just ridiculous. A lot of people have contributed to the success of Texas.
Stephanie Easley says
David Jennings what I think? It's a fact! http://www.nbcdfw.com/video/#!/news/politics/Allen-Police-Respond-to-Dewhurst-Call-About-Relative/220608551
Sgt. Felty starts 1:42 into the video. Dewhurst did nothing wrong.
How about this? http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2013/08/22/criticism-support-for-dewhurst-after-police-call-to-help-relative/?utm_source=TweetDal&utm_medium=twitter
@:46 it clearly states, because it's a fact, that "[Dewhurst] did not ask for special treatment." The only opinion are those saying he "implied" he should get special treatment. Please! If we settled everything based on someone "implying" something, I don't even wanna know what kind of messed up world we'd end up becoming.
Sucks out loud that Dewhurst is being trashed for doing nothing wrong! I know full well those idiots running against him will try to make an issue out of this, that's precisely why (more so than they already are) they are horrible and not right for Texas. By they way, I don't wanna hear how "good of people" those three are… good people don't lie about their neighbor (aren't those three supposed to be strong Christians?) and try to destroy another human being, hurting an entire state in the process.
I'm also not stating an opinion on Texas turning blue if Dewhurst loses, it will happen. Why? I'll say again, because it's rejection of the Texas Miracle. If you study what the role of the Lt. Governor is, you'd know that having the RIGHT person is vital, as it IS the most powerful position. You don't want Dewhurst, then you don't want the many successes we've experienced since he took that position. I'm sick of people watering down all he's done for Texas. The whole reason Cruz won is based on lies, if that happens again, we're done. More importantly for me, I am done supporting anyone in office ever again (except Perry for President if he runs because he represents exactly what Dewhurst represents). I won't be done with government because I want to teach how our government works, not let future generation end up like mine; supporting hype and talk over doers. But make no mistake, if Dewhurst loses those future generation will be deciding which Democrat is best for the job because Republicans will be finished.
Those other three wannabes don't want to continue the fiscally sane, limited yet thoughtful government that Dewhurst delivers, they are running against that/him. If they do want to do exactly what he is doing, then they should be real men and drop out, because voting for "maybe, possibly, they can do better" is ridiculous and a recipe for disaster.
Jim says
I have noticed the same lack of excitement on this race. From my perspective, it is because the candidates are not distinguishing themselves from one another. Dewhurst is clearly going to lose, and Staples so far has not done much. I don’t know who is more conservative–Patterson, Patrick or Staples. I am leaning towards Patterson being more conservative, but I couldn’t prove that, so I don’t know how to vote yet. I am looking forward to seeing some debates between those three. Dewhurst was never a consideration for me, as he is not strong enough of a conservative.
William Gary Scitern says
Hard to believe someone that high up in Texas does not know how the system works.
Stephanie Easley says
William Gary Scitern we (like the federal government) have 3 branches of state government: executive (governor), legislative (state legislature, which includes the Lt. Governor) and the judicial… The Lt. Governor is unique in that it's major power lies in the legislative branch, but it does have executive powers. What the Lt. Governor never has to do with, is the judicial branch. Then tie into the fact that David Dewhurst himself has never had family (or himself, of course) that break the law, so he had not had personal issues dealing with "getting outta jail." The Lt. Governor (position) has nothing to do with the judicial branch, so no this man will not "know" how to play the system. And to go further, this event shows that Dewhurst is far from what some would describe as a "crooked politician;" if he were so crooked and loved to use his influence to get what he wants… then he would know how the "system" works in order to get what he wants. But no, this was foreign to him because Dewhurst isn't one who "uses his position to get what he wants" as some stupid people try to say of him.