Don’t get me wrong, I like Debra Medina. I want her to do well. But this whole “conspiracy against me” angle is getting old fast, especially since her campaign doesn’t have any facts to substantiate the claims. For those who haven’t been paying attention, dark-horse Republican candidate Medina has so far not been invited to the KERA-TV gubernatorial debate in Dallas; incumbent Rick Perry and prime challenger Kay Bailey Hutchison have been.
Medina’s campaign has been carrying on for days that it’s a grand conspiracy by the Perry camp to keep her out. As one might expect, the Perry people flatly deny the charge. And so does KERA. And everyone under the sun.
If Medina’s people cannot produce proof of this conspiracy, they should move on. Fast. This seems to be the kind of credibility-killer people whisper about.
As Empower Texans’ Michael Sullivan said a week or two back, “We are struck by Mrs. Medina’s passion for Texas and her practical, free market principles.” And that was in the context of endorsing Perry!
On his assessment of Medina, I agree wholeheartedly. Having now seen her speak several times, I genuinely like her. She comes across as far too intelligent to let her campaign (mainly the Ron Paul crowd) play fast and loose with something as — ultimately — meaningless as a Dallas public television debate.
The more likely excuse for her exclusion is that the liberals at KERA aren’t sure what to make of her rhetoric. At their Sunday morning champagne brunches, no one talks at all like she does, so they cannot imagine she is a serious candidate.
Here’s what WBAP’s Mark Davis wrote about Medina’s campaign for the Dallas Morning News: “They need to back away from the conspiracy narrative and let the facts speak for themselves.”
He’s right.
Gathering steam with enough voters to ramp up her candidacy probably won’t happen if she continues to clown around. Her campaign doesn’t have the resources of Hutchison or Perry, so it seems like she should be focused on issues that draw a distinction, not insider-baseball that’ll turn people away. In her speeches, she rocks on health care, state-rights, property taxes and the like. That’s her strong suit.
The victim-of-conspiracy antics of her campaign may turn-off voters in a practical way. Given the challenges the state faces, and the heavily divided party split in Austin, some may end up thinking this is how a Medina Administration will act: when things don’t go her way, or it gets too tough, she’ll cry conspiracy.
That’s not what we Texans expect. I’m hoping she can get her campaign back on track.
Here’s here campaign ad about being excluded:
