The runoff between David Dewhurst and Ted Cruz will not be terribly exciting over the next 9 weeks but it has an opportunity to make a statement that will reverberate far beyond the Texas border. Cruz's momentum was fueled by the tea party which is significant. To this point tea party candidates have had noteworthy success but primarily in the house of representatives. If Cruz wins the senate seat, he will in essence be the highest ranking, thus most powerful, tea party candidate in the country. His election could pave the way for a heavier influence of the non-party's unified goals. Despite varying opinions of the tea party, this is an important election. And for me personally the most interesting state race since Kinky.
His showing from no where to over 30% was a great showing and I think it will end up being pretty close but Dewhurst just has to much money. There were a couple of Senate races in 2010 where the underdog Tea Party won the nomination but lost the election, one was to Reid in Nevada and the other was in Delaware? The left demonized these women as dumb and crazy, talk about a war on women. Cruz while an important and nice addition to the Tea Party will just be swelling our ranks.
As long as the tea party has a fiscal policy but remains libertarian on religious issues, I'm for the party and its candidates. However, if the party moves away from the Rand Paul-type candidates and endorses candidates like Sarah Palin then I see no difference between the tea party and the Republican Party.
