Texas US Senate race: grading the Belo debate

If you missed the debate between the candidates to replace retiring US Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison this past Friday night, you missed a splendid showing by former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, a solid performance by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, a glimpse of what Craig James has to offer, and the continued meltdown of Ted Cruz. How’s that for a quick synopsis?

I don’t normally do a “pick the winners” post after a debate but since that is what everyone seems to prefer, I’ll do that plus my normal grading the debate based upon what each candidate needed to do to move his campaign forward. Without further ado:

Winner: Tom Leppert – Mayor Leppert continues to lap the field in solutions to problems. He was on point, precise, and presented his case like a statesman. He also got in the best punches against Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and Ted Cruz.

Runner-up: David Dewhurst – Lt. Gov. Dewhurst has a habit of pausing before answering, thinking about the question and his answer. Some people do not like that but I’m guessing that more people appreciate a guy that doesn’t foam at the mouth. His answers were solid and he again displayed a detailed grasp of the job of US Senator.

Show: Ted Cruz – Ted came across as petty and small. He keeps complaining about Lt. Gov. Dewhurst not participating in every podunk forum held across the state but when he is on stage with Mr. Dewhurst, he doesn’t land a blow.

Craig James – this is why I hate doing a winners/losers post, someone has to finish last and his performance wasn’t a “last place” performance. Mr. James has a great TV presence and is able to articulate his positions fairly well. However, he is pretty new to this game and it shows. He was far better than the first time I saw him but he couldn’t move out from the back of the pack.

Okay, let’s see how the viewers of the debate ranked the candidates:

Well, I’ll be – I agree with the viewers. Hey, it wasn’t that hard, trust me. If you watched it, and you are not a super-duper-supporter of one of the candidates, you’ll admit that the viewers, and I, got it right. Factor in that Tom Leppert has the weakest social media campaign of the three top candidates and his winning a poll like that just goes to show how well he did in this debate.

Now let’s do the fun stuff, grading the candidates on how well they did versus what they needed to do to move their campaigns forward. I’ll go in the order the viewers picked the winners.

Tom Leppert – A+ – This was by far Mr. Leppert’s best performance in the forums that I’ve attended. Recall that after the debate in Austin, I wrote that “his mission last night was to move voters his way and I just don’t see that happening based on this performance” and “He is going to have to attack Cruz and Dewhurst more overtly.” Apparently, he took that criticism to heart because my goodness he sliced Ted Cruz up and Cruz didn’t even realize it at the time. His line about Cruz being a “terrific staffer for Greg Abbott” goes to the heart of the Cruz campaign – Cruz has no record of doing anything on his own, it is always at the behest of a client. It was so effective that people on Twitter are now referring to Cruz as “stafferboy”. Ouch.

And while his jab at Lt. Gov. Dewhurst wasn’t quite as effective, he was able to remind people that the Lt. Gov. has raised huge amounts of cash from lobbyists in a direct and very effective way.

Leppert’s job was to move undecided voters his way and to show a little fire and personality, while remaining true to his core. He did that and for that he gets an A+.

David Dewhurst – A – Another solid performance by the Lt. Gov. Being the frontrunner, his mission is very different from Mayor Leppert’s – he needs to hold voters and you do that by not making mistakes. He made no mistakes. True, his “style” isn’t going to get him any points with people that want to see a Newt Gingrich like performance but he was solid with his answers and didn’t back down from an aggressive reporter or from the attacks thrown at him by the other three candidates. He was attacked so often by the candidates that KHOU’s Doug Miller’s headline referred to him as a “pinata”. And he still held his own.

He displayed the type of temperament that has made him such a successful businessman and politician, and will, should he ultimately win, allow him to represent Texas well as a US Senator.

Ted Cruz – C – I don’t even know where to start. How about this. When I was out at the Clear Lake Tea Party Tax Day rally, I asked everyone I could (a) if they watched the debate and if so (b) what did they think of Ted Cruz’s performance. Almost to a person they thought that he came across as mean and petty, small minded. And remember, the CLTP is one of his strong bases in Harris County. Most of these people were still inclined to vote for him but several were wavering, looking at Craig James. Some blamed the “liberal” debate moderators for his poor performance. But none of them showed the level of enthusiasm that Cruz needs to move into a run-off.

During the debate, I received a text message from someone that is very active in the Harris County Republican Party. The text read “Are you as shocked as we are about the real facts about Cruz’s dad?”

Obviously, I wasn’t shocked, as I wrote about that early on and have defended Cruz – he shouldn’t have to mention that his father fought side by side with Fidel Castro at every speech. But I do think that the exchange between Cruz and KHOU’s Greg Hurst highlighted the charge that some have made about Cruz sort of blurring the relationship between his dad and Fidel Castro.

To his credit, one thing that he needed to do was get attention and he managed that – getting a lot of airtime and his name is mentioned in many reports for his aggressiveness. We’ll see if that is the right kind of attention as the race progresses.

His mission was much the same as Tom Leppert’s and he didn’t get the job done. For that attention getting ability, I’ll raise his grade to a C but I really, really, truly miss this Ted Cruz. Come back!

Craig James – B+ – Yeah, I know, that seems like a high grade for someone I put at the back of the pack but remember, this grading is based upon what the candidate needs to do to move his campaign forward. Without a doubt, Mr. James moved his campaign forward at this debate. Of course, his campaign has a lot of room to move forward!

I was at the Driskil in Austin when he formally announced his campaign. And I was there when he participated in his first debate. And I’ve watched him get acclimated to being a candidate. He is a consultant’s dream candidate – articulate, passionate, handsome, great TV presence, etc. The only people that I’ve found that do not like him are hardcore male college sports fans from Texas Tech or SMU. And luckily for Mr. James, there aren’t too many of those guys.

After the debate, I tweeted that “Craig James positioned himself well for a run for Gov. tonight. I guarantee that a lot of Texans took notice.” I’ll stand by that because I know the Republican primary voters. Think of him as a more youthful, more articulate Rick Perry and you’ll understand what I’m saying. His unapologetic stance on contraception and gay marriage is like a fine wine to R primary voters. I saw again yesterday at the Clear Lake Tea Party rally that he really, truly has the ability to connect with voters one on one. If he’d been out there for three years as Ted Cruz has, it wouldn’t even be close as to who the Tea Party types would vote for.

So he gets a B+.

And that’s a wrap.

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