The Weekly Wrangle

As Pages of Victory noted last Thursday, his mail ballot is already in the can, no doubt alongside thousands of others across the state.  That's right; many Texans are voting at this moment, and the rest of us still have to wait one more week before we can cast an early ballot in person.  The Texas Progressive Alliance's weekly roundup of lefty blog posts and news collects the final arguments from the candidates -- and the opinions from the poiliticos -- as the end of the 2018 midterm cycle draws near.  You'll still have to look at Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott way too much on your teevee, unless you're better than Quick Draw McGraw with your remote than he was with his gun.



The McAllen Monitor caught up with Beto O'Rourke as he made his latest swing through the RGV, this trip with Rep. Joe Kennedy III, which prompted a predictably shitty joke from Ted Cruz.

PDiddie at Brains and Eggs had some unsolicited advice for O'Rourke on how he should be counter-punching the Zodiac Killer.

The San Antonio Express News joined the Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News in endorsing Kim Olson for Agriculture Commissioner over the incumbent, Sid Miller.  (This is a low bar, considering Miller is hot garbage as both elected official and human being.)

DNC chief Tom Perez comes to Houston this afternoon for a schedule of events.

Stace at Dos Centavos was at the GOTV rally/concert with Little Joe y La Familia, hosted by Sylvia Garcia and attended by Lupe Valdez, Lina Hidalgo, Adrian Garcia, a throng of other Harris County candidates and electeds and about 200 voters and activists.  (Photo slideshow at the link.)

Progrexas links to Ross Ramsey at the TexTrib for his ten hottest state races.

After the clusterf in Waller County last week regarding voter registrations and an arrest of Mike Siegel's campaign employee for complaining about it, everything turned out well in the end.

Great way to end the week: with a victory for voting rights at Prairie View A&M University.

We will continue to fight for the interests of every member of the Texas 10th Congressional District. Everyone deserves true representation! #TX10 #Maddowhttps://t.co/CnGDJexNdZ

— Mike Siegel for Congress (TX-10) (@SiegelForTexas) October 13, 2018

The debate between John Culberson and Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, originally slated for this evening, has been rescheduled for October 21 -- the night before early voting begins.

NYT's Upshot poll is back in the field surveying TX-23 (Will Hurd vs. Gina Ortiz Jones) and the early results are predicting a walk-off for the Republican incumbent.

After a two-week hiatus, Off the Kuff comes back to the Wrangle with a pair of interviews: Attorney General candidate Justin Nelson and Harris County Judge candidate Lina Hidalgo.

SocraticGadfly was at an education-related campaign forum for a group of statewide and Northeast Texas regional candidates and offers a few takes.

Jim Schutze at the Dallas Observer sees that with Dwain Caraway off to prison, the Dallas City Council is once again up for sale to the highest bidder.

Texas Vox blogged about the shocking news from the International Panel on Climate Change.  The Texas Tribune's collaboration with ProPublica, the Center for Public Integrity, and others was a long and disturbing read about the Permian Basin's contributions to the problem.  And the Houston Chronicle's piece about surging wind power generation forcing coal plants in Texas to close is a bright spot among the dark clouds.

Grits for Breakfast collated criminal justice developments for the week and led with the story from Huntsville about a prison guard who murdered a handcuffed inmate.  The correctional officer has been charged only with aggravated assault to this point.

The (guard) had been ordered by a supervisor to stay away from the inmate after a confrontation earlier in the day, but he allegedly violated orders, took the inmate into an empty shower area, and beat him to death.

Five death row exonerees will speak at this Saturday's March to Abolish the Death Penalty in Austin, reports the Texas Moratorium Network.

David Collins wrote about Facebook and Twitter's censoring of progressive and anti-war websites.

Harry Hamid blogged about what he did on his summer vacation.

The San Antonio Current saluted Texas sorta-legend Joe Bob Briggs.

Finally, the TPA wishes Texas Leftist all the best as it transitions from blogging to podcasting.

Sunday Evening Funnies

"I love him so much I can hardly explain it." -- Televangelist and Trump adviser James Robison

News item: Entire fleet of F35s grounded

Sunday Funnies

38 million bucks, 50 million yard signs, 9 points behind

And here comes the Zodiac Killer to finish him off.

Cruz challenges O’Rourke to let him debate him at CNN Town Hall in McAllen. Says O’Rourke is hiding. But “Beto doesn’t get to hide in the protective cocoon of the media,” Cruz says #TXSen #txlege ⁦@tedcruz⁩ ⁦@BetoORourke⁩ pic.twitter.com/FWj0LU3vlB

— Bob Garrett (@RobertTGarrett) October 12, 2018

"Every left-wing radical in the country wants to turn Texas blue — and they are sending their money to Comrade Beto," @TedCruz says. #txsen

— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) October 12, 2018

At Houston rally, @TedCruz refers to @MichaelAvenatti, "who I think right now is the presumptive Democratic nominee in 2020"

— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) October 12, 2018

As you may be reading and hearing from the chattering consultant class, Beto is going to have to start punching back.

Harold Cook, a Democratic strategist in Texas, said the reality at the moment is that "two candidates are defining Beto, and only one candidate is defining Cruz." He said O'Rourke is "going to have to present a compelling reason why voters should fire their incumbent."

"Against a candidate like Cruz, I don't think it's even that tough and it doesn't take that long," he said, pointing out that Cruz's hardline approach has rankled some Texans. "But it's time to do it."

Miller, the GOP consultant, agreed that "if you want to bring Ted Cruz back to Earth, you're going to have to go after him."

He said he didn't know if that tactic would ultimately succeed, given that time is starting to run short to make a real difference. But he made clear that if O'Rourke doesn't put his money into a "real aggressive, kind of mean campaign," then the "race is lost."

More from Cook, who's been grifting off Texas Democratic politics for so many years that he certainly understands what losing entails.  So he's credible here.

O’Rourke in campaign appearance after campaign appearance and in interview after interview since entering the race in March 2017 has said repeatedly “I’m not running against anyone” as a way of telling voters he prefers the high road.

But it also reinforces an image that Texas Democrats of the past two decades can’t seem to shake: They seem to prefer losing honorably to getting their hands soiled in a winning effort.

Ahem. 

Here's a little unsolicited advice that goes beyond what Richard Linklater and Antonio Arellano, et.al., have already been doing on your behalf, Beto.

-- Re-invite Cruz to the CNN townhall debate next Thursday before he bullies his way in.  Have some boxing gloves ready to put on; circle his podium in a shadowbox-punch routine.  Or challenge the pudgy Cuban to a 5k run after the debate.

"How about a guacamole eating contest for all the marbles, Ted?"

-- Educate this dumbshit Republican on the differences between communism, socialism, democratic socialism, and social democracy.  Remind Poop that you're a Blue Dog, which is why all the actual socialists in Texas aren't voting for you.  (I'm not a legitimate socialist myself; more of a social democrat, and for that matter, a lousy Democrat and kind of anti-social these days.  These labels are hard; it's no wonder Cruz and his home-schooled ilk can't get them correct.)

-- Raffy, like Trump, has a seriously bad addiction to hypocrisy and prevarication.  A quality oppo research effort should be able to produce  -- should already have produced -- reams of examples to throw in his face next Thursday.

Start there, Bob, and hurry up.  I hope somebody who reads this blog uses the 'email post' link at the bottom and sends this to the campaign.  Sort of like Kuff, they have chosen to completely ignore me over the course of the past year; can't imagine why.  Maybe it's time for a new strategery, fellas.  Who knows?  If you take my advice for once I might even be able to vote for ya.