Back on topic, for those who insist that Beto “couldn’t beat the most hated man in the Senate in his Senate race despite having twice as much money and riding a Democratic election year wave,” let’s run the numbers.
a) In 2012, Cruz beat a Republican primary opponent who outspent him 3 to 1. He then went on to win the election by 16 percentage points. O’Rourke beat that prior Democratic candidate’s performance by 13 percentage points.
b) Cruz started at roughly 12 percentage points ahead of O’Rourke. O’Rourke gained nine percentage points over the course of his campaign.
c) The national election results had Democratic candidates with an average 8.5 percentage point advantage over Republicans. O’Rourke beat that, as well.
d) The final RCP poll average showed Cruz up by 7. O’Rourke beat that by over 4 percentage points, demonstrating that he had no problem getting his voters to turn out.
e) O’Rourke demonstrably had no problem raising funds, something that clearly still holds true today.
f) O’Rourke demonstrably had no problem connecting to average voters and exciting the base.
g) O’Rourke had no problem getting favorable press.
On every metric that you care to name, when it comes to pure politics and the ability to get money and votes, O’Rourke has clearly demonstrated that he has what it takes.
And I say this even though O’Rourke isn’t even in my top five list of the candidates running for the Democratic nomination.
Edited to add, courtesy of bonvivant: “Beto came within 3 points of beating an incumbent Republican in a state where Republican voters outnumber Democrats by a 3 to 2 margin.”