Memorial Day Vacation

will be taking a vacation till next week... enjoy and remember why we are celebrating on Monday.

Dewhurst Seeks Groping Vote?

David Dewhurst is getting hammered in social media circles by working to kill the bill by Sen. Dan Patrick, a favorite amongst conservatives, that would have made groping by the TSA a crime. At the same time, he has upset the Alex Jones followers as well - the group that tried to propel Debra Medina before the birther comments came out.

While Governor Perry made fighting Barack Obama the winning strategy to fend off a challenge by Kay Bailey Hutchison, apparently David Dewhurst didn't read the same tea leaves. An anti-pat down bill passed the Texas House 138-0 was killed by the Lt. Governor and would not have happened if not for a letter threatening Texas by the Obama Justice department.

According to Sen. Dan Patrick, Dewhurst "came up with this elaborate political play to kill the bill without his fingerprints,” adding, “His fingerprints are all over this.”

This has played very poorly over the social media scene and is yet another sign that either A) Dewhurst will not run for the Senate or B) has an incompetent Senate campaign that can't win anyhow. The other campaigns will eat this up making it more difficult for Dewhurst to survive a tough primary.

Lawyer Ted Cruz fights against America's Founding Fathers, wants ConCon

Many of us believe the United States Constitution is a grand document that just needs to be followed, it's already been written properly. Ted Cruz apparently disagrees as an advocate for a ConCon, or a Constitutional Convention.

Understand that Ted Cruz is a product of an Ivy League and this is where the ConCon has its  most strength. Problem is, the Tea Party movement is certainly not a product of the Ivy League and in fact are fighting against that elitism of the Northeast.

There are many pitfalls to a Constitutional Convention, the number one being the main stream media. We already have an uphill battle during the Presidential campaigns, asking for a fair and balanced debate is simply unattainable.

Once called, it is a free-for-all making the risk of a Constitutional Convention uncontrollable. Once the convention starts there is no provision in the constitution, or in law, to limit the convention to any one agenda item

Imagine if you will if the radical left hijacks the Convention, it could mean:
- Repeal of the Second Amendment (the gun-grabbers would love this)
- Repeal of the 10th Amendment (not that it is enforced anyhow)
- Repeal of presidential term limits
- Recognition of International Law as a part of our Supreme Court decision-making (it's already being done despite its unconstitutionality)
- Re-write of the Fourteenth Amendment by excluding the ‘under the jurisdiction thereof’ phrase to include children born of Illegal Aliens

So all the protections we have had and the advances we've made on the 2nd amendment could be for naught.

As someone who is running on fighting for the constitution, allowing the radical left to obliterate it is a funny way of showing it love. It is becoming increasingly stunning how un-conservative Ted Cruz really is. The  liberals argue that the Constitution is a living-breathing documents versus conservatives who believe otherwise - knowing our founding fathers got it right. As an advocate for a ConCon, it seems Ted Cruz is a NoCon(servative.) At least according to conservative stalwart Phyllis Schlafly.

RKBH Contacting Each Campaign

What would you like to have the candidates answer questions about their campaigns and this is your opportunity join in the fun! We will be sending out an email to each campaign team Friday asking them specific questions just like a virtual Republican Club - and we want to hear from you. If we get a good response, we will wait a few days and let more questions come in. We've already received emails suggesting some questions they would like to have answered that haven't seemed to come up in campaign stops - so we've already started, we just thought we would open it up to everyone.

So, please email us at contactus@replacingkaybh.com or send us a twitter message @replacingkaybh with your question. We will compile them and post the questions here plus the email address we sent it to. We reserve the right not to ask stupid or blatantly abusive questions, but that doesn't mean we won't publish the question on here so people can see. We will, however, NOT publish the email address nor the name of the person asking IF they ask us not to. If you fail to ask us to withhold your email address and name, it could be published here. Perhaps pick a nickname if you would like.

So start sending in your questions!

UPDATE: We've already begun receiving questions, so far 2 for Tom Leppert and 1 each for Dewhurst, Roger Williams, and Michael Williams and 3 for Ted Cruz. Keep them coming, we're sending a combined email to each campaign and we'll see who answer them. Of course, we will publish the questions and let you know which ones they didn't answer as well.

Whose Watching Us Now: Ted Cruz Is...

We wrote earlier about CaptionGate, where the initial version of Ted Cruz's website mentioned an implied endorsement of Cruz by the Greater Houston Council of Republican Women - except the Texas Federation of Republican Women explicitly forbids endorsements in contested Republican primaries.

Well, apparently the Ted Cruz campaign is following our little blog because a new email has gone out to their database (which we're on) explaining they messed up without saying the messed up:

Before:

And after:

The change that was added is "According to their by-laws, Republican Women's Clubs are forbidden from endorsing candidates in Republican primaries. The Greater Houston Council of Republican Women is therefore not endorsing any candidate in the Republican primary race for U.S. Senate."

Hmmmm, interesting. Seems the Cruz campaign was forced to make a change. We're not going to completely take credit, but we could. Either way, this will be an issue that is sure to come up in a direct mail piece later in the campaign.

As a lawyer, one would think that Ted Cruz would be the most ethical candidate for the Senate. Perhaps he is and just has a campaign staff that failed him. Either way, this is a very avoidable mistake.

But we know we're being watched somehow, makes us think of that old GEICO Commercial:

Leppert at Mitt Romney Fundraiser

We've chronicled here how much Tom Leppert has flip flopped on just about every issue: he raised taxes before being against them, he against debt when increased the debt on Dallas, he was for gay marriage before he was against it, the list goes on and on.

Well, he was seen at the recent fund raiser for the king of Republican Flip Floppers Mitt Romney. (HT battleswarm blog) Wonder if the two of them talked about this:



Here is the longer version:



Probably not the candidate you want to be tied to when you're a flip flopper too.

Cruz Changes Caption on Website Photo

Ted Cruz sent out a press release touting his finishing first in a poll of the The Greater Houston Council of Republican Women straw poll with a link to their website. Those first to view it noticed it had a caption that said “Join the Greater Houston Council of Republican Women in supporting Ted Cruz.”

HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM. That is the by-laws of the Texas Federation of Republican Women.

ARTICLE III - POLICY
Section 1. Candidate Endorsement:
The President of the Texas Federation of Republican Women, the Vice President - Campaign Activities, and local clubs, their Presidents and Campaign Activities Chairmen shall not publicly endorse any candidate for public office in contested Republican Primaries, Runoff Elections, Special Elections and/or non-partisan elections when more than one Republican is in the race.

Apparently someone inside the Ted Cruz campaign didn't get that memo before publishing this on their website...unil a few minutes ago because the graphic has now changed to read "Join the Growing Number of Grassroots Activists supporting TED CRUZ."

Wonder why a man who is a lawyer and bases his campaign on ethics would violate a core ethic of the group he is highlighting. The TFRW is very strong in its desire to keep its clubs and officers from making an endorsement.  The Cruz campaign is most likely to say "supporting" does not mean "endorsing," but then why did they remove the original caption?

This is likely to become a problem to Republican women.

UPDATE: Why did the Ted Cruz campaign wait six days to release the poll? In the email to supporters, Cruz said "last week" and referenced a little known blog that had the post. The blog community is wondering about this straw poll now, with Big Jolly Politics tweeting "@bjpolitics: Curious if other candidates participated or if this was a backyard win for @tedcruz " If this was such big news, why keep it under wraps for so long. Also, why didn't any Houston news outlets cover this?

SECOND UPDATE: Here are the before and after photos used on the website, thanks to an activist in Houston who shared this with us:

Before and after:

We've added a blog post about the change via email blast, apparently someone is keeping up with our blog.

Tom Leppert reminds me of old Bush/Cheney Flip Flop ad

Remember this:



Reading today's Op/Ed piece by Tom Leppert reminds me of this commercial when you think of everything he has flip flopped on.

Fiscal Conservative now, raises taxes then.
Fiscal Conservative now, increases debt back then.
For Right to Work laws, fought for and got the endorsement of SEIU
Calls himself a Conservative, cozies up to ACORN.

One of the other candidates could do really well putting out a flip flop ad like the old John Kerry won that Bush's team did back in 2004.

Just In: Does Ted Cruz speak spanish?

just got a message from a GOP Activist in the valley, "did you know Ted Cruz cannot speak Spanish?" If this is true, what does this say about a candidate whose touting the heritage of his father (who learned to speak English) yet himself didn't learn the language of his father?

There is a strong difference between the Cuban communities and the Latin communities in how they view each other, with Texas having a much larger Latin community. If it is true that Ted Cruz cannot speak Spanish, that is a big blow considering he may have a problem with the other reason he's running for Senate.

UPDATE: Another activist in Bexar County just wrote in, "imagine if Michael Williams had never visited an oil or gas well, but runs on being the Railroad Commissioner, would he have any credibility? or what if Roger Williams had never driven a car, being a car dealer would be laughable with his business background. Ted Cruz runs on two things: his arguing cases in front of the Supreme Court and his father coming here from Cuba. Ted can't speak spanish and was born in Canada. People don't know this about him."

Ouch.

Ted Cruz forgets it's "on behalf of the Office of Attorney General"

If you've listened to Ted Cruz speak, you have to love his story of how his father immigrated to America and how he argued so many cases in front of the Supreme Court.

There is just one issue regarding his being Solicitor General, and that is he would not have argued one case if not for the fact that Attorney Greg Abbott were not the AG.

When one goes to official Attorney General website for the Solicitor General, they read "As the chief appellate lawyer for the State of Texas, the Solicitor General supervises all appellate litigation on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General."  Key words here are "on behalf of the Office of Attorney General."

Yesterday, Ted Cruz appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show and masterfully listed all of this cases he argued in front of the Supreme Court. What he didn't mention was that it was "on behalf of the Office of Attorney General." That part seems to never to get mentioned by Ted Cruz.

There are rumors that Greg Abbott is growing tired of hearing Cruz take 100% of the credit because what does that do for Abbott. If things shakedown as it appears they will, Dewhurst will run for the Governorship leaving Greg Abbott to run for Lt. Governor. Will he get a free pass in the race or will others run against him, if so, he will want to run on his AG record. But now Ted Cruz is taking full credit for that.

Ted Cruz has never run for political office, which is a good thing. Taking credit for something that is not exclusively your doing, however, is not a good thing.  Listen to his interview with Hugh Hewitt and judge for yourself, excuse the pun, on whether or not you think he is 100% responsible for all his SG activities. More than one person has contacted ReplacingKayBailey to bring this to our attention, both from Austin and across the country. If this is his #1 reason for being qualified to be a Senator, it could be a huge hit to his campaign.

UPDATE: An email just came in that says, "Ted Cruz wants to take credit for everything, hmmm, has he heard of a google search? Google Texas Defends Pledge of Allegiance and you see all kinds of articles on Attorney General Greg Abbott. The Ten Commandments case was where the Governor was sued, and Rick Perry has taken credit for standing up against that lawsuit. Ted is disingenuous on this one."

Dallas Morning News has Leppert a "Loser" in Dallas Mayors Race

Tom Leppert must be counting on Dallas to be his base in trying to replace Kay Bailey. Two things are wrong with this scenario, Kay Bailey isn't that popular in Dallas and Tom Leppert didn't govern conservatively in Dallas.

First, look at how bad Governor Perry beat KBH in Dallas County. While he didn't get 50% of the overall vote, he did get just a tick over 50% of the early voting. No one, and I mean no one, expected the Governor to win her back yard - and he did.

Second, just examine the record - which we have done - and he is nowhere near a fiscal or social conservative. Fiscal conservatives do not raise taxes, do not saddle citizens with a City Owned hotel that will increase the debt (just about everywhere this has been tried has been a failure), do not go to liberal icons like Eddie Bernice Johnson with a hand out begging for federal dollars, etc. Social conservatives do not hire an openly gay chief of staff and march in gay pride parades.

So on both issues, he is a bust. Which leads us to to James Ragland of the Dallas Morning News placing Tom Leppert in the catagory of losers from last weekend's Mayor's race.

Was Leppert the biggest loser?

The former mayor has taken a rhetorical beating for leaving office early to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Kunkle has taken dead aim at Leppert’s “big-ticket” projects, and his message has gone over well in some quarters.

And, worse still, Leppert’s calculated attempts to paint himself as a true conservative took a hit when photos surfaced of Leppert sporting a Service Employees International Union T-shirt. (NOTE FROM RKBH: Don't forget the ACORN video too)

Leppert's campaign cannot be happy with his hometown newspaper pointing out he was a loser in the race. Natinsky even tried to convince voters that he was the Leppert choice and it got him to finish dead last. Republicans know that Leppert is not a Republican, and using Leppert to get the GOP failed big time.

What does Leppert do, does he stay in the race or does he switch teams?

Dewhurst Roasted by redstate.com's Erick Erickson - OUCH!

Yesterday, we pointed out that David Dewhurst was advocating for higher spending because he was using a weird logic that it would just get rolled to local property taxes. As a party that believes in local control, it seems odd that a Republican would choose big government instead especially when it's believed he is running for the Senate.

We've written here and tweeted that rumors continue to circulate that he will bypass the Senate for the Governor's mansion.

And this hist today, leading conservative Erick Erickson of redstate.com roasted Dewhurst by calling him DewCrist after Florida's former Republican turned Independent because he couldn't get the GOP Nomination for Senate.

"Next year’s U.S. Senate primary in Texas offers a wide range of choices....and then there is Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, or as I like to call him, DewCrist."

Much like the former Governor of Florida turned ambulance chaser, DewCrist’s conduct as lieutenant governor has been consistent: whatever advances his political aspirations at that moment, his continuing to play both sides of the fence is costing Texas conservatives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make historic policy gains.

It only gets worse for Dewhurst:

For the past three years, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has promoted a responsible agenda for improving Texas public universities. The measures in the package are intended to increase transparency and accountability, emphasize quality teaching, and rein in the runaway costs.

Recent polls show that Texas voters overwhelmingly support these higher education reforms. After all, who could possibly be against making teaching a higher priority, reducing university operating costs, and making universities more transparent and accountable?

University administrators, tenured professors, and alumni elitists – that’s who. And now, apparently David DewCrist.

At the start of the session, DewCrist named Sen. Judith Zaffirini, a liberal Democrat and the University of Texas’ best friend in the Legislature, to chair the Senate’s higher education committee. Just this week Zaffirini said in an interview, “Rick Perry doesn’t understand higher education. He doesn’t have a graduate degree, and he graduated a long time ago with a major in something like agriculture. I have a PhD, so I understand the value of research and teaching. He just doesn’t understand it.

In other words, DewCrist has handed over education reform in Texas to an elitist, arrogant snob.

OUCH.

I would have thought that the 2010 gubernatorial primary would have been enough to convince DewCrist that the path to the Republican nomination no longer went through the Dallas Country Club. But I guess conservative voters are going to have to convey that message again next spring.

Dewhursts actions this session could have been geared towards a Senate run, but it doesn't appear that way. With the gains in the House and Senate towards conservatives, he could have conceivably become the champion much like Governor Perry did to get re-elected. Instead, Dewhurst has been a man without a spine and favoring liberals over conservatives. We thought he was eyeing the Governorship, now we wonder what party he will run under.

Dewhurst Advocates for More Spending

David Dewhurst, in another sign that he is going to bypass the Senate race, advocated the state increase spending on public schools - making an argument that if the state funds education at a higher level it keeps the local school districts from raising taxes.

“We in the Senate believe that – at the end of the day – if we fund public education at the level that we are proposing –than local school districts won’t have to raise local school property taxes,” Dewhurst said. “... I don’t want to short public education and create a tax hike all around the state.”

One has to wonder how this will square with the Republican motto of local control especially when talk is again about abolishing the Department of Education. Advocating a state funding approach versus letting individual citizens fight local property tax increases seems to give a sign Dewhurst isn't going to seek a Senate race.

With the hiring of Dave Carney, Governor Perry's political guru, one would think there wouldn't be a rift between the two. Governor Perry is adamant about not tapping into the rainy day fund, and Dewhurst was asked about it during his press conference.

Dewhurst was also asked whether Gov. Rick Perry’s statement that “A budget that drains the Rainy Day Fund, depends on accounting gimmicks or spends more than available revenues is harmful and unsustainable for taxpayers, employers and state lawmakers alike.”

When asked, Dewhurst said, “I’m not going to get into a debate as to what Gov. Perry will do, what he said. As far as I’m advised, there’s nothing in the fiscal matters bill over at the House (SB 1811) that hasn’t been things we’ve passed in the past,” noting that the Legislature delayed payments in 2003.

Leppert Now Caught in ACORN Video

Democrats just don't get elected in Texas to statewide office anymore...this can only explain why a person who has ties to SEIU, raising taxes, incresing the debt on Dallas, being a sanctuary city mayor, and now ties to ACORN is running as a Republican - because there is nothing in his background that is conservative.

Today a video surfaced clearly showing Tom Leppert campaigning at an ACORN office while running for m]Mayor of Dallas. (HT to Matt Dowling for getting the video).



A friend reports that Leppert is largely avoiding these issues at events he speaks at, one has to wonder if the public doesn't know or doesn't care. After seeing what happened with Kay Bailey Hutchison, one has to assume they don't know yet. If that is the case, Tom Leppert's candidacy is doomed.

Is it hypocrisy: Leppert Amnesty Website

The Tom Leppert campaign, perhaps in response to the overwhelming success of the Roger Williams microsite http://www.theobamaeconomy.com/ with its slick video attacking Barack Obama, has introduced a No Amnesty website (which by the way doesn't have its own unique URL).

Problem is, Tom Leppert oversaw a sanctuary city and backed the creation of an Office of Immigration Affairs "dedicated to assimilating immigrants, legal and illegal, into the city of Dallas" as described by the Dallas Morning News.

We talked about this in our most recent post describing how Tom Leppert was liberal as a Mayor and is running as a conservative for the United States Senate.

It may seem we are coming down hard on Tom Leppert, but they really are self inflicted wounds. A record is something that can be pointed to, and what voters base their judgement on. Barack Obama, like most Democrats, ran as a moderate leaning fiscal conservative (unless he had a slip of the tongue), but has governed as the most liberal President in American History.

Tom Leppert governed as a Liberal and wants Republicans to believe he is a conservative. The question is will Republican Primary voters believe the past or the present/future?

Leppert: Liberal as Mayor, Conservative as Candidate, will this square with Republicans?

Tom Leppert seems to hope all Republicans will forget how he governed and instead believe how he is selling himself.

First, the tax issue. As a newly elected Mayor, when no one was mentioning him as a Republican Senate candidate, voted to raise taxes 1%. Then, when Leppert was making the rounds, future Republican Senate candidate flip flopped and voted against a tax increase.

Of course, as Mayor, Tom Leppert was a strong advocate of the City owning a Convention Center hotel. In fact, he choose to campaign for the issue in front the Dallas County Young Democrats. When he wasn't on the radar as a Republican Candidate, one could assume it was OK to be seen with a leftist organization like the Young Democrats.

Then the SEIU issue. As the man seeking the office, again when no one was mentioning him as a future candidate, sought hard to get the endorsement of one of the most radical labor unions in the country. Candidate Leppert tried, unsuccessfully, to distance himself from his past only to have it proven by the SEIU with photographic proof.

And now we have this: Right after the election, Tom Leppert said he was committed to opening up an office of immigration affairs in Dallas saying he was disappointed that the massive left-leaning immigration bill did not pass the Senate. (ht to @BJPolitics @dpjennings of Big Jolly Politics for bringing this to the forefront)

From the 2007 Dallas Morning News Article:

Claudia Herrmann, an immigrant who heads one of the largest Mexican hometown or homestate associations in the Dallas area, is also bending Mr. Leppert's ear. Four days after Mr. Leppert's victory, Ms. Herrmann wrote him a three-page proposal on how she believes an office of immigrant affairs should work.

"We applaud that you have recognized the need to create a Dallas Office for New Americans," it read, "to help immigrants from different countries as well as international refugees to adjust to their new life in Dallas."

So now, he is endorsing a left-leaning idea to help illegal aliens stay in Texas? Wait, now they are no longer criminal illegal aliens, they are "international refugees," which I guess makes it ok.

All of this has been chronicled here in various pots. We're not endorsing any candidate for Senate, but will point out issues the all face. Right now, it's just very hard to imagine that a candidate who has raised taxes, increased debt, cozied up to the labor unions, advocated for the LGBT community, and wanted to have safe houses for illegal aliens is your prototypical Texas Republican Senate candidate. Of course, the primary voters will be the one to judge that.

Obama Texas Style - Roger Williams Campaign Responds

If there is one person who is very unpopular in Texas, it's President Barack Obama.  Last year, when Tropical Storm Hermine hit Texas - Governor Perry requested federal aid to assist Texans and he was denied by Obama.It was a bi-partisan request to the President that was flatly turned down.

Fast forward to a month ago when Texas was ravaged by wildfires. Again, request denied by Obama. As Ed Morrissey points out,

Critics might be tempted to point out that Texans like their 10th-Amendment independence, but Texans also fork over a lot of tax revenue that funds federal disaster relief, too. With over 2.2 million acres destroyed already — which equates to over 3400 square miles, or roughly seven times the size of Los Angeles, 50 times the size of DC, and three times the land area of Rhode Island — a federal declaration of disaster seems warranted, and the real question is why Barack Obama hasn’t acted.

Perhaps it's because the President simply doesn't like Texas? We know he doesn't like a certain Texas television reporter, Brad Watson, because he DARE ask him to answer questions.

Which brings us to today. The President is here in Texas and one Senate candidate has used the visit to remind voters the difference between what Obama is doing and what he would like to do if he were elected. Roger Williams' campaign created http://www.theobamaeconomy.com/ and included a very well done video described by Pajama Media Blogger Bryan Preston as being "movie trailer quality."

Williams twitter account has had constant activity all day long, generating a lot of buzz that included a morning interview on Dallas' WBAP Radio with Mark Davis, a regular fill-in for Rush Limbaugh.  The other candidates barely had anything out there in social media, nothing even coming close to what Roger William's team accomplished.

Governor Perry was masterful in using a us versus Washington DC attitude in his recent re-election campaign, and it looks like the Roger Williams team is continuing that focus. He is the only actual business owner in the race, something he has pointed out in the interviews he did the past 24 hours.

Today's advantage clearly goes to Roger Williams.

UPDATE: Today's events were also covered nationally by The National Review's Jim Geraghty and by The Daily Caller's Matt Lewis. It is this kind of national buzz the Williams campaign has to be happy they're getting.

The Social Media Antagonists

If you've followed the candidates on twitter, you'll notice that they are starting to have antagonists flame their campaign. This can be a very useful tool, and thus a harmful one against whom it is directed, if used in moderation.

For @tomleppert, it's @FakeLyndon. This guy/gal is all over Leppert and is consistently pointing out his numerous flaws (in the eyes of @FakeLyndon of course). He doesn't reference a website that chronicles his comments

While @tedcruz has to deal with @lawyersandtaxes. While L&T doesn't just exclusively go after Cruz, they are a thorn in his side. They bring up an excellent point on his fundraising:

In reality, the numbers tell a different story.  According to the FEC, Cruz took in 61 donations over the federal contribution limit, including six donations over $9,000 and two $10,000 contributions received on the final day of the reporting period.  

Not mentioned by L&T there was the Ted Cruz acknowledgement that they have a high number of facebook users...but we chronicled an issue that is bound to come up and that is he used State Attorney General Campaign money to build a following that is benefiting a Federal U.S. Senate race campaign. It is a violation of federal law to use state money for a federal campaign, so if resources were used for one how does it affect the other...this is murky waters for sure. We have a lawyer whose worked FEC cases checking into this.

There are sure to be more antagonists show up - and we're going to point them out. This is what makes watching campaigns fun.

Tom Leppert's Campaign Torpedoed?

Tom Leppert's biggest obstacle to winning the GOP Nomination seems to be Tom Leppert's record. We highlighted an issue that will be raised regarding his support for the LGBT community by participating in the Dallas Gay Pride parade, and now comes news he sought and received the support from SEIU.

Leppert's name came up via the race to replace him as Dallas Mayor when candidate Mike Rawlings said his support of the Service Employees International Union  was no different than the support it received from Leppert: Leppert was quick to try and distance himself because being associated with SEIU in any way, shape, or form is toxic or even a campaign ender in Texas. Here is how it was reported by Rudolph Bush in the Dallas Morning News:

Former Mayor Tom Leppert was pulled unwillingly into the race for Dallas (we corrected their misspelling) mayor today when Mike Rawlings noted that his pledge to support the Service Employees International Union was no different from a pledge Leppert made in 2007.That is a bit sticky for Leppert, who as you know, is now running from the hard-right to win the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.Leppert's campaign issued a statement trying to distance him from any pledge he may or not have signed in 2007 but stopped short of saying he didn't sign something endorsing SEIU."Tom would not sign anything supporting forced collective bargaining for all workers. He believes workers have a right to join a union if they choose, but more importantly, Tom has actively campaigned for workers' essential right to choose not to join a union if they don't want to by expanding Right to Work," said spokesman Shawn McCoy.But SEIU political coordinator Shannon Perez said today that there is plenty of information linking Leppert to support of the union. Details are forthcoming, she said."SEIU has ample evidence of Mr. Leppert's pursuit of our endorsement and his support for working men and women to have a voice at work," she said.

Notice at the end it is a he said/she said kind of argument. He didn't seek it and they said he did. Problem for Leppert is they have evidence.

Now go to today's Dallas Morning News coverage and you find pictures of Leppert wearing an SEIU shirt, talking to SEIU members, and a letter to State Senator Royce West (D) in support of the union.

To paraphrase a line from the movie Backdraft, "that's your career (in this case campaign) dissipation light going off." 

For a candidate that is already having to shake off criticisms that he is the Mitt Romney of Texas (I was liberal before I was conservative), news about him and the SEIU could potentially torpedo a campaign that's already taking on water, and fast.

Social Media Stats Update for month of April

Each month, we're going to do our best to keep track of how the candidates are doing with Social Media. It's important to we are also, for facebook, using their official site and not their personal site. It's the job of the candidate to get friends over to the official site. Also, from now on, the rank will be on the increase from the previous month:

FACEBOOK
Roger Williams 6,721 +741
David Dewhurst: 21,767 +407
Tom Leppert 1,429 +99
Michael Williams 7,921  +85
Ted Cruz 57,565

Ted is the clear leader in facebook fans, however, it's important to note that he purchased a lot of facebook ads to get his numbers up for the Attorney General's race. It might be interesting to find out what the TEC's take might be to use a FB account for a state race and transfer it to a federal race considering you can't use state funds for a federal campaign.

TWITTER
Michael Williams 1,663 Followers @williamsfortx +727
Tom Leppert 1,399 Followers @tomleppert +229
David Dewhurst 4,727 Followers @dewhurst4texas +189
Roger Williams 906 Followers @rogerforsenate +49
Ted Cruz 10908 Followers @tedcruz

We've added a new track, the number actual tweets. It's interesting to note how much they are using twitter and communicating to the voters. Some have had their account longer, so this is just a baseline for future months:

TWEETS
Dewhurst 654
Cruz 463
R Williams 390
T Leppert 281
M Williams 109

Back after a brief hiatus

Sorry folks, some personal business with my family took up more time than I thought. I will have some postings today, but of course everyone's focus is on the death of the man who killed thousands of innocent Americans. May he rest in hell.