Why Democrats Are Crazy for Their "Authenticly Cool" Senate Candidate

HOUSTON – Britt Daniel, the singer of the venerable independent band Spoon, has begun to notice something unusual on the streets of New York, where he spends time with his girlfriend, thousands of miles from his native Texas : stickers and t-shirts for Beto O. Rourke.

"Maybe there are Texans here," Daniel said in an interview. "But it seems that even non-Texans have shown a keen interest in this race.Maybe they just see it as someone who has a future for the party, a future for politics or maybe that they are truly inspired by him. "

"He is a phenomenon, "added Daniel, who has played several times for O 'Rourke, who defies Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

Betomania, as it has been dubbed the phenomenon, sweeps the nation – or at least its more liberal enclaves – and drives fans to impose outrageous ambitions to the Texas MP, even as pollsters and forecasters suggest that 39, it could be two weeks to lose. to a man who has made a lot of enemies in both parts.

"BETO FOR PRESIDENT", comedian Billy Eichner tweeted to his more than 2 million followers, and he is barely alone.

O 'Rourke, a former punk rocker with a message like that of Obama and a face like that of the Kennedy, has seen his star go up so fast that, for the moment, he seems to have managed to get out of velocity policy. For a moment, at least, he has become a cultural phenomenon on the lips and in the hearts of the country's Democrats in a way that few outside of Obama and Bernie Sanders have managed to achieve before him.

"It's like when the Beatles came to America," said Bill Maher when O & # Rourke appeared on the set of his HBO talk show under a thunderous applause .

But if he loses, and especially if the margin ends up being wider than expected, the star of O 'Rourke could come to the surface, potentially overpowering fans' hope for a bid for 2020 and the exhibitor to criticism for spending so much money in a race was always a long shot.

Jim Messina, who spearheaded Obama's re-election campaign, said Mr. O. Rourke had a rare combination of "inspiration, aspiration, and authenticity" that moves people around when he or she skateboarding across Texas.

"People are motivated by him as a political leader and being human," Messina said in an email. "He is genuine and, thankfully, authentically cool.For him, playing the air drum for the WHO or skateboarding is both authentic and cool.People want to spend time with him."

O'Rourke Yards have been spotted in places as far away as Rhode Island, Connecticut and Virginiaand he just announced that he would raise more money ($ 38 million) than any Senate candidate in history for a single term.

Danny Deraney, a Hollywood publicist who has worked with celebrities such as Justin Timberlake and Madonna, said he had not seen Los Angeles so excited about a national politician for years.

"Barack Obama has somehow swept everyone away, and I think Beto has already done it here too," he said. "Here, in a pretty leftist city, they see somebody who has hope for this party, which is not the same old. I think people see it as somebody. one of refreshing. "

Celebrities and sports stars from James Lebron at Ellen Degeneres at Tony Dungy at Stephen King have expressed their love beto. Steve Kerr, coach of the NBA champions Golden State Warriors, wants to run him for president. And donors in New York City were willing to pay at least $ 250 for a recent fundraiser to O. Rourke – even though the candidate was only listed by Skype.

A viral video of O 'Rourke defending the right of NFL players to kneel at the national anthem garnered more than 67 million views, according to NowThis political director Nico Pitney. , who produced it. "(It was) one of our most successful videos this year and the most successful in terms of the intermediate sessions," he said.

O'Rourke, who resigned his seat in the El Paso-area House, promised he would serve his entire six-year term if he were elected, just like Obama when he was in the Senate. And when CNN included O 'Rourke in a 2020 poll this week, they found him tied with Senator Cory Booker, DN.J., and the former Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg.

"The authenticity is intoxicating and more than ever," said Jesse Lehrich, veteran of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

In addition, which other candidate asks Willie Nelson to write a song for them and then play it live, playing the guitar with the country legend of 50,000 people? Who else inspires Richard Linklater, the famous filmmaker based in Austin, to advertise for a great PAC supporting their campaign?

And what other politician has already produced a full-featured music festival with hip bands like Spoon and Polyphonic Spree, where some viewers do not bother to stay after the candidate has spoken, even though the star has not yet play? "Spoon may have sold a lot of shows across the country, but for one night, Beto O 'Rourke was the rock star that the public came to see," wrote the Dallas Observer.

None of this is common enough for a campaign in the Senate.

To make a comparison, some analysts go back to Robert F. Kennedy, who had attracted a huge crowd when he came to the Senate in New York in 1964, before quickly running for president before being murdered.

Representative Joe Kennedy III, D – Mass., Stumbled for O 'Rourke at McAllen on Saturday and has been reminded to have appeared in front of the same place with his uncle, the late Senator Ted Kennedy, at the same time. a boost for Obama in 2008. "This room was not as full as this morning," Kennedy said, according to the Dallas Morning News.

O'Rourke's week-end rallies attract hundreds of people. In Houston, he prepared a gym at Lone Star College in the morning, speaking to at least 1,000 people at Cypress in the afternoon, and speaking to many others at a large gathering in New York. outdoors with rappers Bun B and Willie D.

Ariana Gordon, a high school student, told NBC News that it was "amazing" for her to finally be able to see O'Rourke in person after watching videos of him online. Other young people said that they might not vote this year without O. Rourke.

Meanwhile, O'Rourke has become a kind of crush on the "resistance" plateau.

"Why does it look so perfect by doing even the simplest things?" The women's magazine She exclaimed about a video of O'Rourke caressing a chubby rabbit. "Beto is like your young and energetic math teacher who has pissed you off and worried about fractions."

The Congressman for a third term also managed to avoid suffering collateral damage from the Democratic Civil War that erupted at the end of Bernie Sanders-Hillary Clinton's presidential primary.

O 'Rourke aligns with the party's progressive wing on most policy issues and has full endorsement of allied groups at Sanders, but he is also a member of the moderate neo caucus. Democrat in Congress.

"We are big fans of Beto," said Matt Bennett of the centrist Third Way think tank. "He does not accompany us in all areas, but his main campaign themes are very close to what we think a national narrative should be." And the approach of the happy warrior is perfect for confronting a person as horrible as Cruz or Trump. "

O'Rourke was born and raised in El Paso, a border town where he gained his nickname Hispanic, although he is of Irish descent. Boy looking at 46, he has three children whom he often appoints in public, as well as his wife Amy, who worked with him in a technology company that they sold last year. Elected in 2012, he and his past – which includes an arrest with impaired driving – went largely unnoticed until he decided to run for the Senate last year.

Not surprisingly, all the attention provoked a little reaction.

Some Democrats have publicly complained that the $ 38 million raised by O. Rourke last quarter could be better spent in more competitive races featuring less dynamic candidates, although he has resisted calls for share the bonus.

Meanwhile, media critic Jack Shafer has called for a moratorium on new profiles O 'Rourke. He wrote in Politico that he had never seen anything like Betomania "since the press fell in love with Barack Obama".

And Cruz insisted that O & # 39; Rourke simply used the race in the Senate as a stepping stone (even though the Republican Senator himself had run for president before the end of his first term). "He is suing the National Democratic activists in Iowa and New Hampshire – not El Paso," Cruz told reporters last week.

"Beto is the new RFK, it's natural, you can not train that, you can not concentrate it, whether in a group or not, it's more natural than Barack Obama," said Claude Taylor, a Democratic strategist who founded the Mad Dog PAC.

"But he has to win in Texas," added Taylor. "If he wins in Texas, he will be the Democratic candidate in 2020."

And otherwise?

"If he does not win in Texas and does not become president," continued Taylor, "he will become the No. 2 of the greatest Democratic presidents we have ever had, after RFK."