O'Rourke faces the drought of cable television

Beto O'Rourke, who has traveled the country after a series of presidential campaign events, had just finished a long version of his stump speech on Wednesday, when a cable TV enthusiast clashed with the former Congressman for his absence of his television screen.

O'Rourke's cable absenteeism diverges from the ubiquity of other candidates for 2020, including South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, whose media saturation strategy is consistent with the recent increase in his polls and to the surprises of the first fundraising successes.

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Bernie Sanders played this week in a highly rated town hall on Fox News. Next week, Sanders and four Democratic rivals – Buttigieg and Sens. Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren – will travel to New Hampshire for live public meetings on CNN. For the five presidential candidates, it is the second event of this type in the last three months.

Even some O'Rourke fans are starting to worry.

"I have not seen you recently on MSNBC," said the woman to O 'Rourke while he was answering questions in a ballroom at a hotel in Alexandria, in Virginia. "I did not see you on television and the other candidates were broadcast that very morning. noon and night, and that worries me, "she added.

O'Rourke, his sweat-stained blue oxford, admitted that he might eventually have to succumb to cable TV, in green halls and remote successes, but not right away.

The pressure on the former congressman will only intensify. After Sanders' well-attended appearance in Fox, where the Progressive Senator met with President Donald Trump's favorite network, Klobuchar agreed to hold his own event, even after the Democratic National Committee banned Fox from primary debates.

Buttigieg would be in advanced talks with Fox. Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand and Julián Castro may be behind him for the Fox public meetings.

O'Rourke told a reporter earlier in the day that he might be open to a televised town hall. Later, at the hotel, he cited some of his "heroes" who founded Dischord Records, a label based on a DIY philosophy that involves self-written songs and self-booked tours.

"We have held more public meetings over the last four months and months than any other candidate, because meeting me both is far more rewarding to me than being on cable TV." sound, said O & # Rourke.

"At some point, maybe I should give in and be on your television," he added, "but for now, I want to be with you in person."