A couple of debates last night

Both were in Houston. One was televised. The US Senate candidates were at the Melcher Center at U of H, and the Harris County DAs -- also known as the Republicans -- gathered at TeaBagger Central.

In a Thursday night forum in Houston among candidates vying to succeed U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz picked up where he left off after a Dallas debate last month, blistering Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the front-runner.

Asked about an ad the Dewhurst campaign released last week questioning Cruz's connection as an attorney in a case involving Chinese copyright infringement, Cruz called Dewhurst a liar.

"The reason that he's lying," he said, "is because conservatives all over this state are uniting behind our campaign."

Isn't this too nasty even for the TeaBags?

I was shocked at the anger and animosity Ted Cruz demonstrated throughout the evening. Sadder yet, Dewhurst tries too hard to match it thinking he's appealing to the same subset, but that's a fool's game for him.

Craig James really might need to kill 5 hookers in order to get some attention, and poor Tom Leppert is going to have to fire his makeup artist after she made him look ready for casketing last night. But the creepiest thing was seeing Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart, in every shot just over the shoulder of the moderator in front of the audience, half-grinning at the camera all night long. It was disturbing, I tell you.

 The two Democrats, former state Rep. Paul Sadler and Sean Hubbard, a 31-year-old small-business owner from Dallas, faced the dual task of introducing themselves to a broader audience and quickly offering a contrast to their GOP counterparts. Texans haven't elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994.

Hubbard said he was older than Joe Biden the vice president, when he was elected to the US Senate from Delaware at 29. "I'm the only one in the race who isn't a career politician or a super-wealthy person," he said.

Sadler, an acknowledged expert on public school finance when he served in the Texas Legislature from 1991 to 2003, used his interview time to talk about education.

Hubbard impressed me with his knowledge and his poise (but I've been on his bandwagon for a long time now). Sadler was the legislative heavyweight champion on that stage -- much more experience and success even than the light gov -- but he's stultifyingly boring, untelegenic, and appears to be running a campaign as an independent in the grand Joe Lieberman tradition.

Time for a youth movement in the US Senate. And if the Dems can't nominate Hubbard I will easily transfer support to the Green, David Collins.

Update: Here's Peggy Fikac's live-blog of last night, and if you click here, you can vote in the online poll for the candidate you support in the primary (click on 'newest' if you don't see it when the page loads). Sean Hubbard is currently leading. ;^)

You'll have to wait for Big Jolly to post his slathering review -- here's the advance -- of the DA swap meet when he gets around to putting it up. I'll only say that by excluding the Democratic candidates for district attorney, KSP strengthens the case against them in the lawsuit they have already lost once.

Update II: Thanks BJ. Now empty your drool bucket, please.

Update III: Here's TexTrib's video of the entire two-hour affair. One-on-ones with Dewhurst, then Hubbard, then Leppert, then Sadler, and then James and Cruz. My advice is to fast-forward through the Republicans unless you are a masochist. The best part -- the second hour -- is when all six are together at the table and fielding questions from the moderators.

Give me your thoughts in the comments.

Real guns WILL be banned in the 'free speech' zones, however

You know, the ones outside the convention hall down the street, where those anarchists and dirty hippies exercising their First Amendment rights are being kettled.

In the politically-charged and likely protest-filled streets of Tampa, Fla., during the Republican National Convention in August, water guns will be strictly prohibited. Concealed handguns, on the other hand, will be perfectly legal.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said this week that banning handguns from downtown Tampa during the convention, as the city's Mayor Bob Buckhorn requested, "would surely violate the Second Amendment."

"It is unclear how disarming law-abiding citizens would better protect them from the dangers and threats posed by those who would flout the law," Scott said in a letter to Buckhorn Tuesday, emphasizing the words "law-abiding." "It is at just such times that the constitutional right of self defense is most precious and must be protected from government overreach."

Buckhorn said today that he was "disappointed" by Scott's decision, but that the city will "plan and train accordingly."

Tampa officials are expecting thousands of protesters to descend on the Florida metropolis for the GOP convention. While no handguns will be allowed inside the convention, which is being protected by the Secret Service, concealed carry license-holders will be able to carry their weapons in the streets surrounding the convention.

They will not, however, be able to have "super soaker" water guns, sticks, poles, portable shields or glass bottles.

This isn't 2012, it's 1984. Either that, or we are through the looking glass.