With just over three weeks until the Texas Republican Senate primary runoff, an internal poll conducted for conservative candidate Ted Cruz shows he has taken a nine-point lead over Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. Roll Call reports:
From the earliest days of the race to replace retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R), Dewhurst has been the frontrunner. But in this survey, 49 percent of respondents said they would vote for Cruz. Forty percent supported Dewhurst, and 11 percent were undecided.
The poll surveyed 750 likely Republican runoff voters June 24-26 with a 3.6-point margin of error.
While internal polls aren’t always the best indicator of the state of the race, Cruz has enthusiastic grassroots support.
https://twitter.com/TheCourtMarie/status/221406036718919680
Putting up @tedcruz signs on a beautiful Texas night for @NicoleLHeath family. pic.twitter.com/R31TkyNY
— Bryce Bender (@brycebender) July 6, 2012
Cruz also appears to be winning the race for Twitter dominance.
Just looked through a week of #txsen tagged posts, and didn't see a single pro-Dewhurst post in the bunch. @tedcruz #choosecruz
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) July 7, 2012
While Cruz maintains an active Twitter presence, Dewhurst’s personal Twitter account has been silent for more than a week and his official campaign account has tweeted just four times in the last eight days. Maybe that’s because Team Dewhurst is more focused on duping voters through misleading social media practices.
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This @txsenFactCheck is @DavidHDewhurst's account. Don't be fooled Vote for @TedCruz
— Matt Dawson (@SaintRPh) July 7, 2012
https://twitter.com/Revenant0101/status/221438364266659841
Ahem, @txsenfactcheck, we're on to you: Dewhurst Campaign Engages in Misleading Social Media http://t.co/vW3k6Xwc
— Kemberlee Kaye (@KemberleeKaye) July 5, 2012
Blogger Kemberlee Kaye discovered that “TXSen Fact Checker,” a supposedly objective Twitter account “dedicated to fact-checking the claims in the race for U.S. Senate in Texas,” is actually a Dewhurst for Texas project.
All links go to a tumblr account with a matching name, txsenfactcheck.com which has a similar description as the twitter, “a microsite dedicated to fact-checking the claims in the race for U.S. Senate in Texas, launched to separate fact from fiction in the constant information flow concerning the July 31st run-off.” Once again, no mention of candidate affiliation, that is until you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page where, “Paid for by Dewhurst for Texas” appears in tiny print.
The Twitter bio for @TXSenFactCheck does not disclose the account’s affiliation with the Dewhurst campaign.
Rather than own the slander, the Dewhurst campaign is hiding behind the guise of objectivity in order to smear Ted Cruz. Texas deserves better than an elected official who condones distortion in order to win votes.
When you have a name like @txsenFactCheck, people assume you're neutral, not a Dewhurst attack account. Intentionally misleading. #txsen
— Kemberlee Kaye (@KemberleeKaye) June 29, 2012
@txsenFactCheck claims to be "Dedicated to fact checking." yet is clearly "Paid for by Dewhurst for Texas." Another reason why I #choosecruz
— Hannah Thompson (@ohheyhann) July 6, 2012
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