Selby: John Sharp Will Spend His Own Money on Campaign

by: David Mauro

Thu Dec 11, 2008 at 02:33 AM CST

There has been some question whether John Sharp, who was outspent by about $27 million to $9 million in his last race, would be able to improve his numbers with the federal contribution limit of $2300.

Gardner Selby of the Austin American-Statesman reports that Sharp has something that he has not had in past campaigns: a personal fortune that will allow him to spend "millions" on his campaign for the U.S. Senate.

But Sharp, 58, also has a new advantage. He's grown wealthy working for Dallas-based Ryan Inc., a heavyweight tax consulting firm. And he's prepared to part with millions of dollars for his campaign — a big leg up because Senate candidates are limited to raising money in small chunks.

Pledging to spend "millions" may be the latest tactic to try to scare Bill White (and other Democrats) out of the race. 

Paul Burka wrote that he was "skeptical" that Sharp could raise enough money to win this race. If Sharp is serious about spending millions of his own money (and that could be a big "if"), he may start to change some people's minds.

Democrat John Sharp Announces for U.S. Senate Race

by: Phillip Martin, Progress Texas

Mon Dec 08, 2008 at 00:41 PM CST

(Hat tip to Vince @ Capitol Annex)

Democrat John Sharp will run for Hutchison's U.S. Senate race as soon as possible, according to today's press release. (Click here for the full PDF).

"I will be a candidate whether the election is in 2012 or any time before then," said Sharp, who received the highest percentage of votes statewide of any Democrat during the past decade. "Texans face tough challenges that call for innovative solutions, and that's what our campaign is all about."

Sharp, 58, said he is forgoing the step of forming an exploratory committee and will file the required papers on January 1 so that he can begin raising money and campaigning across the state with the dawn of the new year.

This is a major, declarative announcement from Sharp very early in the process -- and one that either sets the stage for Houston mayor Bill White to announce for Governor in the next few weeks, or to announce to challenge Sharp in a primary race.

I've been a vocal critic of Sharp's on several occassions here on BOR. I stand by those critiques -- I think we could have forged a much better school finance solution than the compromise he crafted on behalf of Governor Rick Perry. But he's also got tremendous potential for a statewide run, has tremendous name ID, and will be a formiddable candidate whenever the race occurs.

I look forward to learning more about his candidacy as it develops --  but make no mistake, this is a major, major announcement that has serious consequences for both state and national politics.

More as it develops...

TX-SEN: John Cornyn's Online Hypocrisy

by: Matt Glazer

Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 02:17 PM CDT

In an e-mail titled, "24 Hours", Kevin McLaughlin, Cornyn Communications Directory, blasts the Noriega campaign and the online community for believing it is time for a change.

Let's go with the background first and then talk about how hypocritical the Cornyn campaign is being.

Last Friday, the Cornyn campaign stole footage from the Austin Chronicle and I am guessing Fox News.  They then produced a negative online ad comparing Howard Dean's Iowa speech in 2004 with Rick Noriega.  We of course covered the story.

The Cornyn campaign never admitted or apologized for stealing the footage, but issues are more important, so we remained silent.

That same night, Rick Noriega won an election.  Of course it wasn't the election, but Rep. Noriega won an online contest at DailyKos.  Noriega won the "Hell to Pay" contest with 42% of the vote and beat out 6 other highly qualified Democrats.  The contest translated to dollars so what did the Cornyn campaign do?  Attack.

After 96 hours, Kevin McLaughlin asks the question, "Did you see Rick Noriega condemn the comments?"

Lucky for us, he also answers his inquiry with a simple, "You didn't?"

Something seems hypocritical here, doesn't it?  (Like McLaughlin, I will answer the question for you).  Of course it does.  On June 30, 2008 we realized David Beckwith was trolling progressive and news blogs and made sure our readers would know not to trust Buck Smith.

Beckwith was challenging people to duals and referring to himself in the third person.  

How did the Cornyn campaign respond?  With class.

On the same day, McLaughlin called me up early in the morning to say we had, "ummm.... Bad reporting."  He then went on to send me this official campaign response:

What?!?! 'Buck Smith' isn't a real person?!?! Are you serious?? People blog under screen names?!?! I am shocked...next thing I know you'll be saying the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus aren't real either. What kind of world are we living in?!?!

With McLaughlin's e-mail, you have to guess that Cornyn condemned Beckwith within hours of hearing about this outrageous campaign tactic.

Well, Cornyn did respond-- sort of. Within hours he said that Beckwith would remain on the campaign and Cornyn himself said, "the campaign had no comment".

So McLaughlin pens the line,  "Rick Noriega should show some political courage and repudiate these hateful comments from his hired staff. His continued silence speaks volumes about his partisanship, and his willingness to do anything to further his own political ambitions."

We would like to remind Kevin that Sen. Cornyn has been silent for months, where is the outrage there?

In case you are wondering, the comment that has the Cornyn camp so outraged goes on to say...

John Cornyn is now looking to become the most powerful Republican in Washington once Bush expires and McConnell is retired. In fact, he's even musing about a 2012 Presidential run. On top of that, after weeks of bland black and white ads reminiscent of John McCain's early campaign, he's turned to attack Rick Noriega & Howard Dean, and stolen footage from an Austin Progressive Paper in doing so.

The politics of fear and deception must come to an end.  In the final days of the campaign, Cornyn, his staff, and the Republican Party have all shown us they can't win on issues.  They have decided to go back to baseless, hypocritical hyperbolic attacks on Lt. Col. Rick Noriega's character.

TX-Sen: Noriega Releases New Ad: "Dress Up"

by: Matt Glazer

Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 10:46 AM CDT

Progressive Electorate Blog Talk Radio : The Texas U.S. Senate Race; Michele Bachman and more

by: allonghorns

Sat Oct 18, 2008 at 03:56 PM CDT

We will also talk about the latest Michele Bachman comments as well as national polling trends.

Please join us from 11:00 - 12:00 central time tomorrow and you are welcome to call in with your questions and comments.  

TX-Sen: Cornyn Spends Twice as Much as He Raises

by: Matt Glazer

Fri Oct 03, 2008 at 04:23 PM CDT

Robert Garrett on the Trailblazer Blog quoted Noriega spokesperson Martine Apodaca.

"It's the most we've ever raised in a single quarter, it's more than we raised last quarter and it's 7 figures," Apodaca said. He confirmed that the five-term state rep from Houston took in more than $1 million in contributions between July 1 and Sept. 30.

Interestingly John Cornyn raised about the same amount this quarter raising $1.86 million between July 1 and Sept. 30.  On the other hand, Cornyn has spent a lot of money this month.  He spent nearly $4 million in the past three months for his re-election campaign and over $800 billion of taxpayer money for Wall Street.

That deficit spending is an all or nothing proposition.  He has spent twice as much as he raised this quarter.  An incumbent Republican, Texas Senator couldn't raise the money needed to pay as he goes?

With such a large deficit, its pretty clear what Cornyn is doing. Expect a lot more of his curiously bad ads (you can see them here and here).  

The strategy has got to be to build some name recognition before voter registration concludes on Monday and early vote starts on October 20.  

With polls showing Noriega within 7-points, Cornyn seems to be playing defense by spending money now at the cost of having money in reserve. Especially since Noriega seems to have some late campaign momentum in his favor.

Garrett points out on another Trailblazer Blog entry Noriega will have a sizable post quarter boost to the campaign coffers.

His Democratic foe, Rick Noriega, got a boost from Hillary Clinton at a South Texas fundraiser last night. But the event, if perhaps not all of the haul, came after books closed on the third quarter.

Make a donation to the Noriega campaign today!

Rick Noriega Releases New Web Ad

by: Matt Glazer

Wed Oct 01, 2008 at 03:15 PM CDT

George Bush, John McCain, and John Cornyn have failed as leaders and elected officials. Good thing we have a choice this November.

Donate today!

John Cornyn Breaks Promise to Suspend Campaign During Hurricane Recovery

by: Matt Glazer

Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 00:16 PM CDT

Today, Texans in Austin, Dallas-Forth Worth, and Amarillo woke up to ads from Cornyn's campaign anyways. While the Cornyn campaign says they are working to get them off the air, as the AP story notes, they had originally planned them to start last Friday, the day Ike started pounding the Texas coast, which had been the predicted landfall date for about a week.

Lt. Col. Noriega canceled all his ad buys to begin with and truly has suspended his campaign as he's been called up to Camp Mabry in Austin to report to the National Guard to assist in recovery logistics. Of course, considering Noriega managed logistics in Houston (which he also represents in the state house) during Rita/Katrina recovery, this is pretty first hand basic stuff to understand, which is exactly the point he's been trying to make for the last year.

It's hard to feel any real regret of Cornyn's self-described campaign "glitch".

The Noriega campaign told the press:

"I'm a little surprised that they chose to run an ad when 3 million people still don't have power in the state of Texas," said Noriega spokeswoman Holly Shulman.

Like Lyle Larson, John Cornyn has broken his promise. Junior Senator Cornyn, made a promise to stop campaigning and honor the 3 million Texans without food, water, or power by suspending his campaign.  He forget to qualify that with the exception of three major media markets, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Amarillo, were the ads will run anyway.

At least Rick Noriega is doing the right thing by helping people in their time of need and not just blaming political games on glitches.  

Rick Noriega: Remembering September 11th

by: Matt Glazer

Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 10:14 AM CDT

Rick Noriega In Front of the Big Tent

by: Matt Glazer

Wed Aug 27, 2008 at 04:01 PM CDT

Rep. Noriega was running late to another event so we really appreciate him taking the minute to speak to us.