September 22, 2018      1:39 PM
HK: In the hand to hand combat of their first debate Ted dominated Beto
Not a knockout by any stretch but Cruz laid out a potentially effective campaign playbook; any illusions O’Rourke may have had about his opponent are gone
Last
night’s debate between Senator Ted Cruz
and Congressman Beto O’Rourke confirmed for each side’s
true believers the superiority of their candidate. Cruz confirmed his
unflinchingly partisan and conservative credentials with a litany of
administration accomplishments while jamming half-true accusations in an almost
staccato style to O’Rourke.
With
few exceptions, O’Rourke stayed on his message of hope, optimism and unifying
the country but in the context of the engagement and for those just learning about
the candidates, Cruz controlled the debate.
The
biggest takeaway of the night was that while Cruz missed no opportunity to try
and define his opponent, O’Rourke’s attempt at sustaining an upbeat message
missed opportunity after opportunity to call the incumbent to account for his
record.
By Harvey Kronberg
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