State Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston is trying (desperately) to unseat popular Sen. John Cornyn in the US Senate.
Sadly for Mr. Noriega, the National Democratic party has all but conceded this race and is not funding Mr. Noriega’s campaign as though it’s not in play for their party come November (because it’s not).
And part of that is because Mr. Noriega is just not a very good candidate. Even the liberal and Democrat-friendly Austin American-Statesman are not real thrilled with Mr. Noriega after he blamed a reporter for his own wishy-washy energy policy answer:
State Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, threw this reporter under the bus as he defended his position on drilling within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge during a television news segment in Dallas on Sunday.
Noriega, who says that states should be able to decide what to do with their oil, said last week that he would “certainly take another look” at drilling in the refuge if Alaskans voted for it, seeming to soften his position against drilling there.
Asked on Sunday why he seemed to be changing his stance, the U.S. Senate hopeful — who is trying to unseat Republican Sen. John Cornyn in November — blamed me.
I bet this won’t stop the Statesman from officially endorsing him come November, though. I’ll link back to this post as a reminder as soon as they do.
(Full disclosure: I’m a reporter for the Austin Chronicle covering the Senate race, but I’m posting this on my own behalf, not the Chronicle’s.)
If you’re so certain the Statesman will endorse Noriega, then you aren’t very familiar with their endorsement history. They have a long record of endorsing moderate-to-liberal policies, but, not wanting to rock any boats, then turning around and supporting entrenched candidates (of either party) who may or may not support those policies. I think the last time the Statesman endorsed against George W. Bush was probably his race against Richards back in 1994. I’d wager money that they’ll go for Cornyn.
Left by Lee Nichols on July 28th, 2008 at 5:13 pm