27 November 2015
Donald Trump takes credit for Ted Cruz's flipflops
"Well, I like him," Trump said on "The Laura Ingraham Show," when he was asked about Cruz as a potential running mate. "He's backed everything I've said."
"Ted Cruz is now agreeing with me 100 percent," he added.
Trump isn't wrong. He's engineered the Cruz flipflops on free trade, legalization for illegal immigrants, and even whether America should have more legal immigration for highly educated technical workers.
Posted by Evan @ 11/27/15 06:56 PM | Comments (0)
12 November 2015
FBN debate gets libertarians back on board with Rand?
Did the FBN debate push libertarians back to Rand from Cruz?
One thing I haven't seen anyone mention anywhere from the Fox Business Network debate: the intriguing subplot between Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.
Rand Paul attacked Marco Rubio on military spending. He had to know he was going to lose -- not only is Rubio a better debater than Rand Paul, but substantially more of the Republican primary voters agree with Rubio.
So what was Paul doing?
It sure looked like a planned gambit to get libertarians back on board.
Paul's campaign has been flagging so much that even libertarians have started jumping ship or sniping at Rand through the media. Just like he did in his 2012 primary, Ted Cruz has been pushing hard for Rand's libertarian vote.
But calling for shrinking our military helps Rand with most self-identified libertarians.
And then Ted Cruz fervently argued that illegal immigration hurts the economy -- definitely not popular among libertarians.
Pundits panned Rand's debate performances, but I bet he got good reviews from the people he needs to stay in the race.
Posted by Evan @ 11/12/15 08:47 PM | Comments (0)
09 November 2015
Winner and losers: Houston municipal elections
Let's do losers first, since that's more fun.
Losers
Adrian Garcia -- Sheriff Selfie got just 17% of the vote in a race that he was expected him to win.
But that's not the worst part. The worst part is that now all the attacks on his record are out there, mostly put forth by Democrats. That's going to make a partisan run for office much, much harder.
Annise Parker -- She hasn't seemed very interested in being mayor for quite awhile now, particularly when it comes to making sure that core city services are functioning well.
The defeat of HER Ordinance was just as much about Houstonians telling Parker how much they disapproved as it was about whether a broke city should add another layer of bureaucracy to deal with complaints about who urinated where.
Sylvester Turner -- At times this race felt like a coronation. But despite finishing first to make the runoff, he didn't get any more votes than anyone thought he would. In fact, his vote totals have actually declined in each mayoral election.
Bill White -- His unendorsement endorsement of Adrian Garcia didn't swing any votes. All the fundraising help he gave Garcia was wasted.
Winners
Bill King -- As someone who spent a decade telling Houstonians how moderate he was and criticizing both parties, it wasn't really clear if King could even muster enough votes to make it to the runoff. He needed Republican votes to make it happen, and while it took awhile, he got there.
King looks like he is in a good position for the runoff.
Pastors hit with subpoenas -- They won by more than anyone expected, despite Bob McNair flip-flopping on them and only Ben Hall carrying their banner in the mayoral race.
Imagine if Ben Hall had been smart enough to hire someone other than John Weaver?
Posted by Evan @ 11/09/15 10:05 PM | Comments (0)