As you may remember, I wrote that Senator Cruz would win by 10 points.  He won by 4.  So what happened?    The O'Rourke campaign, and lots of dollars that we've never seen in a Senate campaign before, accomplished two things. First, it recruited a ton of a new voters, specially those who don't usually vote like students.  They had staff and offices everywhere.  They were on TV and radio appealing for change all over. Second, they encouraged these new voters to vote Beto and the Democrats.  It was made easier by having O'Rourke on top of the ballot. Let's look at the numbers:       But Cruz wasn’t the only Texas Republican who struggled.  Firebrand Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick won reelection by only about 5 points, and indicted Attorney General Ken Paxton won by about 3.6 points against a first-time candidate who ran a campaign that got little help from anybody.  The...(Read Full Post)