Good morning, everybody. I’m trying to wake up but the coffee is still dripping into the pot.
I’m also trying to figure out whether Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst hurt or helped himself in his bid for the Senate by lashing out at his top opponent: Ted Cruz. I was surprised to hear Dewhurst as publicly frustrated and angry-sounding as he did on the radio yesterday afternoon.
I was driving around Houston, scanning the dial, when I came across Dewhurst talking with KPRC’s Matt Patrick. I started tweeting the things he was saying, like:
“There’s isn’t anything moderate about me except I don’t scream at people.”
“Everybody else is in diapers compared to me.”
“I’ve had it up to here with the lies…”
He also accused Patrick, the radio host, of “carrying water” for Cruz, who’s been gaining on the frontrunner in the polls and could force a runoff after the May 29th.
There’s only one other time I can remember Dewhurst becoming publicly angry. It was way back in 2007 during a debate on a voter ID bill. One political insider told me “Dewhurst gets mad sometimes, just not where strangers can hear him. Even if he knows for a fact he’ll be in a run-off, and knew for a fact he’d win it, he’d still be mad. It would cost him millions, some of it out of his own pocket.”
Racial tensions are running high in Houston following the acquittal of a former police officer seen on tape beating a teenaged suspect. Mayor Annise Parker immediately blasted the jury’s decision and urged anyone who’s upset to voice their displeasure “peacefully.” Black activists are outraged because everyone on Andrew Blomberg’s jury was white. Several other officers await trial in the beating of Chad Holley.
White birth are no longer the majority in the United States, according to the Census Bureau. Meantime, the Statesman reports that in Texas, 7 in 10 children under the age of 1 are minorities.
In a Texas Tribune exclusive, University of Texas System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa pushes back against reports that UT-Austin President Bill Powers might soon be out of a job.
The New York times reports that a group of high-profile GOP strategists are working with a wealthy to craft a hard-line attack on President Obama that would “do exactly what John McCain would not let us do.” Part of that plan, the paper says, is use advertisements to link Mr. Obama directly to incendiary comments from his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Oh, and in case you missed it, or as they say on twitter ICYMI: My appearance this week on Fox 26 in Houston was well received. Here’s the video.
Anything else you think isn’t getting enough attention? Let me know.
