After Round 2, what's next for Texas candidates Beto O'Rourke and Julian Castro?

[TexasTowelie]

AUSTIN — With the first two rounds of debates in the rear-view mirror, the immediate challenge for the two Texans seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination is to avoid what political pundits are calling the winnowing process, experts say.

"I think there's going to be a reckoning," said veteran Austin political operative Bill Miller in reference to Texans Julián Castro and Beto O'Rourke. "The field is too large."

And that reckoning could start in Texas. Next month, the third round of Democratic Party-sanctioned debates will be held in Houston — and the bar for qualifying to participate is the highest yet.

To make it to the stage for the Houston events, scheduled Sept. 12-13 on the campus of Texas Southern University, candidates must have at least 130,000 campaign donors and reach at least 2 percent support in four party-approved polls.

Read more: https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/texas/state-bureau/2019/08/01/beto-orourke-julian-castro-look-ahead-next-phase-campaign/1890519001/
(Corpus Christi Caller-Times)

[W_HAMILTON]

1. I believe Beto has already qualified for the September debates, so...?

[TexasTowelie]

4. Yes, Beto has qualified for the September debate.

Castro has met the requirement for 130,000 donors, but he still has not met the criteria for polling with four polls of 2% or more. Maybe he will pick up some of supporters from Mike Gravel since he withdrew.

[comradebillyboy]

2. I'd love to see either one run for Senate. My wife is

a Beto supporter and feels like the media went out of their way to hurt him. I don't disagree.

[xmas74]

3. I wanted Clinton to pick up Castro as her vp in 2016.

I still want him as a vp candidate in 2020. I think he's a fantastic candidate who doesn't get enough attention. A vp spot would get him the national attention he deserves for another run of his own down the road.

[JI7]

5. Castro has very little support in Texas and it stands out compared to Beto who beats Trump in polls

there.

[dalton99a]

6. +1. Castro didn't lift a finger to help Texas Democrats in the midterms. It was all Beto

who tirelessly worked his ass off and selflessly shared the $80M he collected.

[JI7]

7. what i thought was interesting was the recent texas poll before this recent debate

but AFTER the first debate where the media was very positive about Castro and continued to go negative about Beto. Yet the Texas poll still had Beto with huge support while CAstro had pretty much NO support.

[dalton99a]

8. Very telling, indeed.

The punditry and commentariat have been on an anti-Beto jihad since before he announced. The drumbeat is non-stop. Just saw another nasty article today in the Wall Street Journal calling for him to drop out of the race.

I think Castro's support in Texas is limited to people who voted for him in San Antonio. He is really auditioning for a Cabinet appointment.

[crazytown]

9. As a matter of strategy Beto ducked (read shunned) the media

early in his campaign. He turned down the CNN town halls for young people on April 23. Sanders, Warren, Harris, Buttigieg accepted - it was a major event. He avoided the talk circuits and press interviews. If you shun the media, they will not not well disposed towards you. Buttigieg adopted the opposite strategy, accepting all invitations, and it paid off.

I have been appalled at the way the media have gone after him ... but it is not inexplicable.

[dalton99a]

10. Beto was not invited to that event.

[crazytown]

11. I was informed here that he Was invited.

Beto was about 6% in the polls at that time, and I asked how Amy got the nod. Two people who claimed to know something said he exploring issues on the ground, following his playbook from Texas.

AFAIK, Beto kicked off his candidacy with a spread in Vanity Fair, and at the same time, turned down interviews with major news organizations. That may be the genesis of the all style no substance meme that followed him.

[Tipperary]

12. Yes, I remember that too.

There is a poster who usually informs us what Beto is doing “on the ground.” I have never quite followed that, or understood what it really means.

[Hortensis]

14. Crazytown, imo Beto's likely been getting the "Democratic threat"

treatment. His star soared high during his senate run and triggered that response to take him out.

After 2016 we should be all too aware that much of the MSM works to keep power in Republican control. They produce biased coverage insidiously and continuously, which has been studied and proven for some major media, and in 2016 blatantly when they were apparently afraid months of sabotage might not be enough. I'm thinking here of actions by the NYT and AP as outstanding examples of both techniques. They're both corrupt and dirty as hell when it's decided they need to be.

[TwistedTinkerbelle]

13. In my North Texas county...

A number of Dems were really disappointed that Castro didn't make a run for governor. We needed a big name with some kind of name recognition to have decent shot at winning that seat. There's still a bunch of ruffled feathers so I don't see him getting a lot support at home. Granted I'm only speaking of my small county.

All that said, Castro did have a good debate night. Beto is hanging tight, not surprised since a good number of us here thought he was "bless your heart" candidate as in there was no way he was going to even come close to winning. He flat handed that back to us by rousing Dems all over the state!

[MBS]

15. I also think he'd be a good VP. n/t

[Otto Lidenbrock]

16. I think Castro had a better debate performance than Beto

But Beto's platform and personality is more known and gives him a pathway to the nomination. I came out of the second debate impressed with Castro's rebuttals but still not quite sure why he is running or what his major policy ideas are. With Beto I think as a debater he ought to work on slowing down a tad and not try to cram everything at 100mph. He needs a debate moment to get a kick up his grassroots hard work deserves.

[BannonsLiver]

17. Unfortunately, the next move won't be to head to the exits.