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This car trip follows weeks in which O 'Rourke sells his authenticity by filming scenes at the border, across El Paso and beyond. But Medium's publications and viral videos did little to answer one of the biggest questions he had: Is he ready to be president?
Steve Ortega, who sat on his side at the El Paso City Council and counts among his closest friends, said that he thought that O 'Rourke was not the only one of his friends. had not yet solved the question in his mind.
Have a coffee on Wednesday in El Paso. When asked this question directly, Ortega replied, "I'm not sure he's there, that's why he always decides what he wants." make."
"If he introduces himself, he will have to justify himself, that he thinks he is the best person for the job, and it is a very deliberate process that he is currently following," Ortega said. to CNN. "He will not leave if he thinks there is someone else who can do a better job than him."
Several friends say that the # One of O 'Rourke' s greatest concerns is the burden that a presidential race would place on his wife and three children …
In a private conversation held at. Late last year, O & # 39; Rourke and former President Barack Obama discussed the difficulties of running for presidency for a young family.And they discussed the need for & # 39; 39 authenticity as the Democrats chose a candidate to face Trump, according to two people familiar with the exchange.
O & # R; Rourke answers questions about a 2020 auction while traveling on the road, citing his concerns about the time spent away from his family.
Jasmine Estrada, a student at Oklahoma Panhandle State University – where O. Rourke stopped Tuesday to speak to students, faculty, and members of the staff – said that she had asked him if he would run for president.
"He said he was still thinking about it," she said. "His biggest concern is his family, so I guess it's just – that's what he thinks, how it's going to affect his family and all that."
O & # 39; Rourke also tries to determine how he would fit into an overcrowded Democratic field, where his experience is not up to the summaries presented by some potential rivals.
"He needs mentally, emotionally, physically to be 100% in a race where he will reflect on his campaign," said Ortega. "He is flattered by the" Run Beto Run "and by all the groups who want him to run for president, but in the end, he has to be thorough himself." conversation aloud and in public, a rarity for a politician considering a candidacy for the presidency. His unexpected journey on the road, which even took friends to El Paso by surprise, came with a very public revelation of his uncertainties.
"Have been stuck lately in and out of the funk," wrote O & # Rourke in a Medium article. He added: "Maybe if I move on the road, meet people, know what's going on at home, have an adventure, do not know and that I'm not known, it's going to change my mind, reset, I'm going to think of new thoughts, break the loops I'm stuck in. "
O 'Rourke broke collection records of funds and created a national base through his media campaign of his campaign last year to overthrow the Republican. Senator Ted Cruz. Along the way, he became a darling of the left: a documentary about his Senate candidacy co-produced by Crooked Media, founded by former Obama staffers, is expected to be presented in March at the annual festival South by Southwest Film.
A closer than expected defeat of Cruz left O 'Rourke without a political warrant – but that did not eliminate the interest of a presidential candidacy from O & # 39; Rourke. After insisting, during his tenure in the Senate, that he would not stand for the presidency, he acknowledged in front of a city hall in mid-December to have begun to consider it.
O 'Rourke weighs heavily on the pressures exerted by his friends and political allies, especially those in El Paso who see him as a powerful voice to fight President Donald Trump's alarmist remarks about from the southern border.
"He is a generational politician, I have been and have never seen anything like this for many years," said former Mayor of El Paso Ray Caballero. , whose tenure inspired Mr. O. Rourke's first foray into President's candidacy for the 2005 City Council. "Beto is historically a class apart, none of the current aspirants are in the same league."
Such a road trip could certainly be a pure soul cleaning at this early stage of exploration of a presidential race, but if he finally decided to join the race, its course would be much more restricted by the conventional rules of the primary competition.
What O "Rourke did not say what he would do as president or why he wanted to introduce himself. He ransacked Trump's border wall via a video shot over 5 million times, but when the Washington Post asked him what he had to do to solve the problem of visa overruns, he replied: " I do not know".
This is an answer that could haunt him if potential rivals seize his lack of detail on a question posed to a former congressman of a border state.
But Ortega and other friends have described it as a classic O 'Rourke – an authentic answer that might not fit easily into the usual political mold.
"If he does not know the answer to a question, he's not going to get out of his way and say, let me come up with a good-sounding answer that the people of Iowa will love," said Ortega. "He'll tell you," Listen, I do not know the answer to that question. Let me search for it and I will come back to you. "
Howard Campbell, a friend of O'Rourke and professor of cultural anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso, said that Mr. O. Rourke had a general appeal that It extended to the usual frontiers.
[19659002] "It's a bit of a chameleon, someone who uses multiple identities and lifestyles," Campbell told CNN. "Beto, of course, is a four-letter word, it sounds great."
For the admirers of O 'Rourke, there is little excuse for his blank slate. If he's applying, questions about his experience will be at the center of a campaign, just like 12 years ago, Barack Obama, a first-year Senator from Illinois, who at the time moment of his presidential statement, was one year younger than O. Rourke
O. Rourke is expected to make a decision by February, said relatives, adding that they did not know what his answer would be final.
"I would not be surprised to announce it in the next few days, I would not be surprised if he phoned me tomorrow and said," I will not do it, "said Ortega. "It could go one way or another."
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