I am grateful to the people of Texas and the League of Women Voters for allowing me to engage in last night’s vigorous and enlightening debate for U.S. Senator. As I said last night, the vast majority of Texans are worse off than they were six years ago. My goal in these debates, and the reasons I’m running for Senate in the first place, is to show to Texas families that I will always be a fighter on their side and that there’s an alternative to business-as-usual in Washington. That the next six years don’t have to be a carbon copy of the past six years.

Whether it’s the economy or energy policy, immigration or healthcare, the consensus in Washington has failed us. John Cornyn responded to a question last night by saying that he “supports the status quo.” Well, as far as I’m concerned, that could preface each one of his statements as he tries to defend his record over the past six years. He called the Bush Administration “tone deaf” and “out of touch” the other day – yet he has voted with President Bush 95% of the time. There’s a reason he’s trying to distance himself from his record – business as usual in Washington hasn’t worked and Texas families know it.

Texans watching last night saw a stark difference in the way their candidates would go about our jobs as U.S. Senator. I hope the debate format offered these voters the ability to evaluate both of our records, our plans for the future, and to recognize both the clear differences between our priorities and what’s at stake in this election.

I encourage everyone to go to www.ricknoriega.com and learn more about my vision for Texas.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 4:50 pm and is filed under Politics, Campaign .