Beto O'Rourke appeared on Lawrence O'Donnell's show last week, in case you missed it, to make it clearer than Saran Wrap that he is not — HE REPEATS, NOT — running for U.S. Senate in 2020. He is running for PRESIDENT. He is running against 4,927 other Democratic candidates for the nomination in the hopes that he will be the ONE chosen to run against Donald Jesus Jumpin Jehosephatsz Trump.
Does everybody understand that?
O'DONNELL: Let's stay with this, because you've just created a breaking news moment, here. Because I just want to expand on what you said about the other candidates who are running, because you are now definitely, absolutely out of the Senate race in Texas, according to what you're telling us tonight.
O'ROURKE: That's correct. Absolutely. And I really mean this. There is an extraordinary field. The field that looks like Texas, and the diversity of experience and biography and background and expertise and skills that they'll bring to bear, not just in the campaign, but the person who wins the nomination, then who defeats John Cornyn, will be able to do for our state, and this country in the United States Senate, so I feel very confident, very optimistic about our prospects as a state, as a party, and again, grateful to those who have entered the arena and are running to serve us.
Now, we all understand the media is obsessed with the horse race right now. All we see are polls, and even I believe polling has a useful thing or two to tell us if we read them correctly. What polls do NOT tell us is who will be president in an election that is set to take place fifteen months from now. Remember Obama in 2007? Wasn't polling so well, if memory serves. The horse race has O'Rourke polling very poorly, but it's a mistake to count him out just based on that. He's on the stage in September, so he's viable.
As for his decision to absolutely, no-way-no-how run for the Senate? Don't weep too hard. There's M.J. Hegar running for that seat. A woman. Wouldn't it be nice to have HER defeat Cornyn to make the Senate a little less male? Every cloud has a silver lining.
