The BETO Backlash Is Causing Some Democrats Whiplash

Today the Dallas Morning News reported that Beto raised an astonishing $80.1 million in his failed bid to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and speculated that "the final tally, released late Thursday, is sure to intensify speculation that O'Rourke could mount a campaign in 2020" against Señor Trumpanzee.

Despite his relatively lean political resume, O'Rourke has received perhaps the most buzz of any potential Democratic contender for the White House... Much of the attention on O'Rourke has focused on a frenetic campaign style that helped him come within three points of toppling Cruz-- the best a Democrat has done statewide in Texas in years-- and a social-media-friendly charisma that captivated liberals all over the U.S.

But there's no overlooking the El Pasoan's herculean ability to muster up campaign cash.

Beto raised over double what Cruz raised-- $80,112,249 to 37,099,753. The other Democrats in competitive Senate raises this cycle, didn't come close:

Jacky Rosen (NV)- $21,247,237
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ)- $18,929,335
Phil Bredesen (TN)- $16,276,106 ($5,516,942 self-funded)

It pays-- a lot, apparently-- to be running against a nationally abhorred arch-villain.

Lately, some well-intentioned liberals have--not to mention desperate centrists whom time has left behind-- have begun a groundswell of support for a Beto presidential run. "Democrats," babbled the always incoherent Chris Matthews on his MSNBC show Tuesday, "respond to inane media driven hocus-pocus magic."

When people express their enthusiasm for a Beto presidential run to me I remind them that he started serving in Congress in 2013 and ask them to cite one thing he has done that they admire. Crickets, inevitably, crickets.

Beto's dad was a politicians-- a long time El Paso Democrat who switched to the GOP in 1991 to run, unsuccessfully, for Congress. When Beto and two of his pals-- collectively "The Progressives"-- decided to run for El Paso City Council it was on a very non-partisan agenda-- improving urban planning, downtown development, border reform, creating a more diversified economy with more highly skilled jobs,and ending systemic corruption among city's political class. He won big and was reelected bigger and he was a dream official for gentrification and for developers.

When he ran for Congress as a reformer in 2012-- against an entrenched conservative Democrat, Silvestre Reyes-- he seemed like an idealistic kid. He was 40. Blue America endorsed him in a largely ignored primary. But we weren't the only outside group supporting him. A group financed by conservative billionaires, Campaign for Primary Accountability (the No Labels of its day) spent heavily against Reyes. In fact they spent more in the TX-16 race than in any of the 14 districts they contested in 2012-- $240,000 helping to elect Beto. Aside from Beto's father-in-law, William Sanders, the top donors were all right-wing Republicans, mostly from Texas, who support charter schools and want to privatize Medicare:

• Leo Linbeck- $1,515,042
• Joe Ricketts- $500,000
• Tim Dunn- $500,000
• Eric O'Keefe- $100,000
• Jonathan Farber- $100,000

Beto's biggest single contributor was the Hunt Companies (developers) whois 2012 gave massively to Republicans and... Beto-- Texas Conservative Fund ($225,000), NRSC ($217,300), Mitt Romney ($33,250), RNC ($31,110), Ted Cruz ($25,500) David Dewhurst ($20,000), NRCC ($19,100)... only Republicans plus Beto. Worth mentioning that they kept right on supporting Beto. in the 2016 cycle, for example, as they were writing over $2.1 million in checks to Jeb Bush's campaign and over $200,000 each to the RNC and the NRCC, they also supported one Democrat-- Beto-- with $39,300. In 2014 they backed candidates like Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Boehner (R-OH), Ed Gillespie (R-VA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Mitt Romney (R-UT) and one Democrat-- Beto, who got more than any of them.

Blue America didn't endorse Beto for his reelection bids in 2014 or 2016 for two reasons. He didn't need out help and he had turned out to be a so-so member of Congress, scoring an "F" from ProgressivePunch and joining the New Dems., Still, he has been good on some issues-- immigration, gun control, campaign finance reform, Palestine, anti-trust and marijuana but usually in a "moderate" way. His environmental record is good, but he isn't exactly the kind of guy to sign onto the GreenNewDeal.

He's more a centrist than an actual progressive. Last summer, NPR referred to him as "an unapologetic, unabashed liberal who has shown no interest in moving toward the political middle after his victory in the Texas Democratic primary. On issues like universal health care, an assault weapons ban, abortion rights and a higher minimum wage, O'Rourke has staked out progressive positions."

Former Texas agricultural commissioner and Democratic populist Jim Hightower sees something different in O'Rourke's campaign.

"You've got a Democratic constituency that is fed up, not just with Trump, but with the centrist, mealy-mouthed, do-nothing Democratic establishment," Hightower said. "They're looking for some real change and Beto is representing that."

Elaina Plott, writing for The Atlantic was less starry-eyed, noting that he is endlessly compared to to the great charismatic stars of the Democratic Party like JFK and Obama but she sees him more like Marco Rubio, "a young, handsome, eloquent, prolific fund-raiser." But even Plott claimed he supported Medicare-for-All. He still hasn't signed onto HR 676, John Conyers Medicare for All bill, co-sponsored by 124 House Dems, including Texas Democrats considerably to his right like Gene Green and Marc Veasey and even Blue Dogs Filemon Vela and Vicente Gonzalez. When I spoke with him about it personally, he remained non-committal, just as his campaign website is. Will he be the guy to push for Job Guarantee? No. Free state colleges? No. Bernie and Bobby Scott introduced H.R. 15, the raise the wage act (for a $15 minimum wage) on May 25, 2017. There were 151 immediate co-sponsors. But Betio wasn't among them. In fact, it wasn't until February of 2018 that he finally signed on, one of the last 3 Democratic holdouts.

Beto endorsed Hillary, not Bernie. People call her a progressive as well. I'd say Beto is a moderate with more in common with centrists like Hillary and Biden than with cutting edge leaders like Bernie or Alexandria Ocasio. He'll never be on our Worst Democraps Who Want To Be President list, but, no matter ho charismatic or cool he is, he's not going to be someone we get behind in the primary either, not when candidates like Bernie, Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley are viable.