Beto O’Rourke Announces 

Run for Texas Governor,

 Testing Democrats’ 

Strength

One recent public poll found Mr. O’Rourke nearly tied with Mr. Abbott in a hypothetical match up, and another showed him losing by nine percentage points.

...

The 2022 race will take place against a national backdrop that favors Republicans, including an economy still struggling to rebound from the pandemic and a Democratic president whose popularity has been sinking. [41% in the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll]

I like Beto a lot and of course hope he wins. He is our star in the Lone Star State, he has the shy charisma of Bobby Kennedy. His 2018 run against Ted Cruz was daring, courageous, and thrilling and damn if he didn't come within less than 3% of unseating Lucifer Incarnate. It was a "good" loss, as losses go, but as in sports it's still an L and you can't keep losing (unless you're Scott Frots). You get one good loss, maybe, in politics. The next time you go, you better make sure you win. Beto didn't do that. He ran for president in 2020. Now he's a two-time loser. With the announcement today that he's running for governor Beto will have run for major political office in every even-numbered year since 2018. This is a very late entry into the gubernatorial race in Texas and Beto's hesitancy froze the Democratic field. Ted Cruz is uniquely unlikable in American politics. Greg Abbott is not Ted Cruz. Imo the poll that is closest to the result in 2022 is the one showing Beto losing by 9.  And if Beto loses to Greg Abbott? Now a three-time loser, will he run against Cruz again in 2024? At some point you become Harold Stassen.