Obama Endorses Almost Everyone Except Beto

HOUSTON, TX -- Former President Barack Obama this week endorsed nine Texas Democratic candidates but left out Beto O’Rourke.  

A report in mrt.com says the former President announced a second round of endorsements including Lizzie Fletcher (TX 7), Veronica Escobar (TX 16), Gina Ortiz Jones (TX 23), Sylvia Garcia (TX 29), Eric Johnson (Texas House 100), Ana-Maria Ramos (Texas House 102), Terry Meza (Texas House 105), Rhetta Bowers (Texas House 113) and Julie Johnson (Texas House 115).

The midterm elections are Nov. 6.  The list of endorsements from the former President included 260 Democratic candidates and notably left out Rep. Beto O'Rourke, the El Paso Democrat challenging Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

"Today, I'm proud to endorse even more Democratic candidates who aren't just running against something, but for something—to expand opportunity for all of us and to restore dignity, honor, and compassion to public service," Obama tweeted Monday.

The lack of an endorsement comes the same week that O’Rourke issued an apology for a review he wrote in 1991 while he was a student at Columbia University.  According to Politico, O’Rourke wrote about the actresses in the play, “whose only qualifications seem to be their phenomenally large breasts and tight buttocks.”

O’Rourke said he was ashamed of that review. “I am ashamed of what I wrote and I apologize.  There is no excuse for making disrespectful and demeaning comments about women.”

The review isn't likely why O'Rourke didn't get the former president's endorsement. According to Newsweek, an Obama official told them that the former president took recommendations for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee that had not made O'Rourke's campaign a priority. Then there was the fact that this is conservative Texas where O'Rourke's opponent, Ted Cruz, has been busy connecting the El Paso congressman to far left Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.

Before the O'Rourke campaign matured, senior staffers with the O'Rourke campaign told us that part of their strategy is to attract cross-over Republican voters. Obama's endorsement would do little to encourage the crossover vote.

The El Paso Democrat on Tuesday released a 30-second TV spot that highlights O’Rourke’s commitment to running a positive, inclusive campaign that’s about listening to and learning from Republicans, Democrats, Independents and non-voters alike in each one of the 254 counties that he’s visited across Texas. Joined by thousands of supporters tuning in from 223 grassroots watch parties throughout the state, O’Rourke filmed the live ad during a Facebook stream on Sunday night.

An average of polls on RealClearPolitics Tuesday shows Cruz with a 4.5-point lead over O’Rourke and lists the race as a toss-up.

The last day to register to vote in the Nov. 6 election is Oct. 9.  Early voting begins Oct. 20 and runs through Nov. 2.