As I noted yesterday, I will be meeting with the candidates running to replace retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to get an update on their campaigns. First up was Tom Leppert, whom I first interviewed back in July. Once again, Mr. Leppert impressed me with his enthusiasm and, as the title says, solutions to the problems that our country faces today. I used that title because it is true: in the roughly two hours or so that I’ve spent with him over two visits, he has yet to talk in the typical politician’s seven second soundbite. If he is to be successful, he will probably need to learn to do that given our culture’s lack of attention span. But I like the depth of his answers.
First off, he still sees his path to victory the same, which is to leverage his name ID in the North Texas media market to garner a spot in a runoff against Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. As Mayor of Dallas, he was on television and radio in that market virtually every day for four years, so his name ID is comparatively high. In 2008, the total votes cast in the Republican primary for Senator (Cornyn vs. Kilgore) was 1,223,865, with roughly 400,000 of those coming from the North Texas media market. The key of course is preventing Lt. Gov. Dewhurst from reaching that magic 50{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} +1 needed to win the primary outright. I asked him if he thought that Elizabeth Ames Jones dropping out of the race would affect the possibility of a runoff and he didn’t think that it would. He thinks he is making some inroads in West Texas but understands that is strong Dewhurst territory. At this time, he has commercials running in 13 markets and is relying on that to help his name ID.
I had to ask him why he keeps going to all of the “Tea Party” forums because he is not performing well in the straw polls that they hold after each event. I mean, why not follow Lt. Gov. Dewhurst’s strategy of ignoring them? First off, he doesn’t have the luxury of Dewhurst’s high name ID, so he needs to get in front of as many people as possible. And second, he thinks that he can engage people better than anyone else. He told me that he doesn’t think those straw polls reflect what happens in the forums because people come in with preconceived ideas. He’s right about that – the Cruz campaign has been able to get their people to turn out to these events using social media. He told me that after each forum he has picked up several new supporters and he thinks that by the end of the campaign this will pay dividends. He also stated that he thinks it is a candidate’s duty to meet with people across the spectrum, not just those that are inclined to support you.
On the topics of the day, he does think that the Federal Reserve needs to be audited and that they need to focus on stabilizing the currency rather than trying to obtain full employment. Talking about our debt problem, he told me that we would be in the same situation as Italy and Greece if oil were not traded in US currency and that it is critical to address the debt crisis now. He scoffed at the “Super Committee” and joked that it was hilarious that we pay 100 Senators and 435 Congressmen to do a job and they farm it out to a committee. He also noted that the $1.2 trillion targeted by the “Super Committee” was less than two and one-half percent of the problem over 10 years and was meaningless in the big picture.
When I asked him to tell me one thing that he thinks would immediately get the economy growing again, he first reminded me of the comprehensive plan that he released in August and then proceeded to talk about the need for “certainty”. By this he means that in order for businesses to plan, business owners need to know the market conditions that they will be operating in. For instance, if nothing changes, they face the possibility of a 50{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} increase in taxes. And the increased cost of health care when the final portions of Obamacare become law will be fatal to small businesses and will severely impact large ones. I think he’s probably on to something here because when I talk to business owners, they bring up the same issues.
Back to the race, he noted that 60{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of all Senators are attorneys that have never created a job in the private sector. He pointed to his success at Turner Industries as proof that he knows how to grow a business and create jobs. He noted that his mayoral experience in Dallas would be an asset in Washington, D.C. because it showed he had the ability to get things done. One of the things he doesn’t like about politics is when an elected official comes home to the voters and blames the lack of movement or progress on an issue on “the other guy” blocking it. He stated that if he wasn’t effective in moving policy positions after being in office six years, he would retire rather than blame his ineffectiveness on “the other guy”.
In terms of campaign finance, he and Dewhurst are about even in reported cash on hand, roughly $4.2 million each at the end of the 3rd quarter reporting period. He pointed out that in cash available for the primary, he has about $500,000 more than Dewhurst, although he did admit that it probably didn’t mean much if Dewhurst intended to put more of his own money into the campaign. Both guys have substantially more cash on hand than Cruz, who has somewhere between $1.5 and $2 million available for the primary.
All in all, it was good to sit down and talk to Mr. Leppert once again and continue to learn more about him and his candidacy. I do like the fact that he speaks in terms of practical solutions and not theoretical ones. I really appreciate him taking the time to meet with me.