Not So Strong Defense

Michael Huerta of the infamous Burnt Orange Report cheered on incumbent Ciro Rodriguez in the race for the Congressional HD 23. Huerta cited an article from the Dallas Morning News showing Rodriguez to be significantly ahead of Republican challenger Lyle Larson.

Here is some food for thought for my friendly neighborhood liberals: err on the side of caution. While gloating is a fun past time pre-election, it can be less fun once you’ve lost the election (this is something every follower of the political world must come to grips with at one point or another).

Now, before you peg me as an irrational optimist, hear me out…

The Congressman’s monetary lead over his challenger should not be a surprise to anyone; if anything it should be expected. Perhaps our friends over at Burnt Orange Report should re-visit their textbooks and look up the theory of Incumbency Advantage. This is a lesson I’m sure the Congressman is quite familiar with considering his opponent last go around was Republican incumbent Henry Bonilla. Bonilla had, what was considered a “war chest” by many observers at the time Rodriguez decided to enter the race. This was a huge obstacle for Rodriguez to overcome, he was doubted by many, but looking at the status-quo, it wasn’t impossible.

Now, Lyle Larson is faced with the same scenario and naturally, the cheerleading liberals are naïve enough to believe that it can’t happen again. Wake up. How do you think you got there? It meant more for the Texas Democratic Party and the DNC to get Henry Bonilla out of office, considering he was the only Hispanic Congressman, than it meant for the Republicans to keep him in. (More on Hispanic Republicans later...sidenote to liberals: WE DO EXIST) The Republicans' problem was that they felt Bonilla’s “war chest” was enough to ward off prospective challengers. They were wrong, as I believe the democrats are now.

Taking a closer look at the latest Federal Elections Commission (FEC) report further confirms my previous statements. Out of the $921,431 worth of donations raised by Camp Ciro, 95 of them were from (what I like to call) Repeat Offenders, or PACs or other organizations who had donated more than once. The award for Most Ambitious Repeat Offender goes to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association PAC who donated a impressive eight times, never donating less than $1,000 a pop each time. Overall winner by technicality goes to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee with an astounding thirteen In Kind contributions. In the Individual Contributions area Camp Ciro had 10% of his contributions coming from Repeat Offenders. Congratulations Ciro, only 4 of those 273 Individual Contributors came from self proclaimed Lobbyists…but don’t worry! There’s still time for more people to have you in their pocket, Congressman. We still have plenty of time until November, and thus many more chances for his vote to be bought.

Now, let’s look at Republican challenger Lyle Larson. Larson had no “Repeat Offenders” when it came to PACs or other similar committees. When looking at the individual contributions he had only a 4% repeat donor rate in comparison to Ciro’s 10%. Lyle Larson has been in politics for a while and has amassed strong loyalties, and yet he does not have any self proclaimed lobbyists in his campaign finance reports unlike his opponent Ciro Rodriguez.

It is easy to see the clear distinction between the two candidates in this race. I advise the Democratic Party to rely less on their money and more on the character of their candidate, and if that’s the case, Camp Ciro has a lot of work to do.