08.03.06
AusChron On TX-31, Mary Beth Harrell
Here’s the story, District 31 Race Heats Up.
Fur is starting to fly in the District 31 congressional race between Republican two-term incumbent John Carter and Democratic challenger Mary Beth Harrell. While the campaign up until now has mostly featured Harrell trying to get voters’ attention, Carter made it clear, in a recent fundraising letter, that he takes her seriously.
The only reason Rep. Carter would take her seriously is if he thought he had a chance to lose this race. Maybe he saw the recent NPR survey that was done of Republican districts. It had really bad news for Republicans. It appears his handlers are making him resort to “tele-town halls” to communicate with his constituents. That way someone can be in his other ear telling his what to say. It must be Rep. Carter’s previous comments that prompted this. This is the same reason why they won’t let him debate Mary Beth Harrell, they can’t trust what he will say if left to his own devices. The article finishes with this paragraph:
It’s unclear exactly what Carter fears from Harrell, unless you buy into his theory a few paragraphs later that “this is not a fair fight. … The national media has a clear agenda to bring down Republicans.” Back in the real world, and discounting the unlikely map-drawing, Carter appears to be in a safe district – he trounced his opponents in 2004 with 65% of the vote, and although both he and Harrell were unopposed in this year’s respective primaries, the 23,438 votes Republicans cast for him tower over the 7,023 Harrell received for the Dem nomination. It would certainly seem that he has violated a basic tenet of campaigning, which is that if one appears headed for an easy election victory, ignore your opponent, lest ye give away free publicity.
The main thing Rep. Carter fears about Mary Beth Harrell is that she’s a more superior candidate than he is. And if one buys into the Redistricting Myth, than he may be in a lot of trouble. It’s also been a while since he’s had to campaign, the ’02 primary, and he’s probably a little rusty. Which, more than likely, is why he didn’t just ignore Mary Beth Harrell. Or it may be that, as Rep. Carter has shown, he’s prone to making mistakes.
Don’t forget that Mary Beth Harrell, along with the seven Texas Fighting Dems, will be holding a press conference to repudiate the false accusations and remarks from her opponents fundraising letter, Band Of Brothers To Rally For Mary Beth Harrell Thursday August 3rd.