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Play at the base
Trump's mutual interest reflects the fact that both parties are eager to rally supporters, even to the exclusion of any medium in the polarized Texas electorate.
"It's really the base. Who will be fiery enough to reveal themselves? Campaign 101, "said Victoria Farrar-Myers, senior researcher at SMU's Tower Center for Political Studies. "That's what you saw. Cruz will attach to Trump. Regardless of what people think or say about him, he always has over 80% approval with his base. Any Republican would be foolish not to pay attention to this factor – even Ted Cruz.
But the chances of the democrat depend on the attraction of new voters and Texans who have long remained on the sidelines.
"I really expected that O 'Rourke would attack that middle voter," said Farrar-Myers.
His chances would be greatly enhanced by Obama's enthusiasm among black voters.
It's a heavy burden for an "Anglo millionaire from El Paso," said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University. He still tried, as when he discussed a recent incident in which an off-duty Dallas policeman shot dead a black man in his own apartment thinking that he was an intruder in his apartment and his defense of NFL players seeking to attract attention to violent encounters with police involving unarmed blacks.
"We even saw that when he discussed his impaired driving – that as Anglo, a privileged man of the upper middle class, he was able to get out of his impaired driving as a worker." African-American, "Jones said.
But the controversy over the national anthem "is probably a loser with the moderates of Anglo" and it poses a problem to Cruz "to mobilize the base of the GOP".
"When we have people during the national anthem who kneel down, refusing to represent the national anthem … you have disrespected the millions of veterans … who risk and are fighting to protect this flag and protect our freedom. " told SMU.
He added that civil rights protesters, such as Martin Luther King Jr., would be surprised that such demonstrations lead to the burning of flags, injecting as before the insinuation that O & W Rourke is in favor of burning the flags. t.
On taxes, gun rights and moral issues, Cruz painted O'Rourke as being too liberal for Texas. He called it a "socialist," a label he had long insinuated, but which he had not used explicitly against him before.
"Drug use has a constant tendency. In almost all cases, Congressman O'Rourke is supporting more, "he said at one point in the debate.
O'Rourke then realized that Cruz used to distort his point of view.
"If we are talking about ending a war on drugs that has become a war against people and others in this country and ending the ban on marijuana, he will talk about legalizing heroin or fentanyl or cocaine. Nobody wants to do these things, "he said.
But it's a safe bet that Cruz's shots fired on his supporters and kept O & # 39; Rourke on the defensive, and analysts agreed that the challenger will have to redouble efforts in future debates for to avoid Cruz's efforts at least if he wants to broaden his appeal.
Most analysts have not heard much from competitors. Anyone who wins, many Texas voters will spend the next six years away from a senator whose policy is repugnant.
"Two very distinct images of the state have been painted," said Aaron Kall, director of the debate at the University of Michigan and co-author of Debating the Donald.
"Enough or not," he said, Cruz managed to convince O'Rourke to be a sidekick of liberal Sens Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.
O'Rourke's greatest feat: "He interpreted Cruz as a buffer for President Trump," said Kall.
Points scored on both sides
Cruz is the most polite debater, with a quasi-encyclopedic memory that has helped him excel at Harvard Law School and as the best attorney in Texas. His ability to execute a set-set would not have been a surprise for O 'Rourke when he was watching one of the 20 presidential debates in which Cruz had participated in the 2016 GOP primaries.
Example: their exchange on gun violence.
O & # 39; Rourke argued that as a result of shootings in schools and churches, "gun owners and non-gun owners" are willing to face restrictions reasonable, because "thoughts and prayers" are not enough.
In the countryside stops across the state, Democrats approve this line. At SMU, Cruz came to get ready, with a return so easy as to think in advance, associating his religious devotion with his ardor for the second amendment.
"I'm sorry you do not like thoughts and prayers, I'll pray for anyone in danger," he said. "But I will also do something about it, and in my very first year in the Senate, I paved the way for a $ 300-million bill for school safety, strengthening our schools, installing more metal detectors. officers. "
O 'Rourke does not have such skill with verbal blitzkrieg. But he scored a few points.
He urged Cruz and other Republicans to be hypocritical by promoting "$ 2,000 billion in tax relief for the rich" despite "the biggest income disparities since the golden age" and a national debt of $ 21 trillion. The GOP deplores deficit spending during the Obama era.
Dilemma for O'Rourke
O'Rourke introduced himself as a conciliator. Republicans do not buy that it's post-partisan, but despite everything, the debate posed a dilemma:
Play well and get trampled. Play hard and give up the mark of nice guy.
"I'm sure a lot of Democrats were very happy to see him …" said Jones, but "he tried to stand as if he was above the scrum … He ended up arguing with Ted Cruz on different issues and become very agitated and excited. "
As for the senator? No surprises there.
"Ted Cruz was Ted Cruz. He is a partisan and ideological street fighter, "Jones said.
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