Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke

Published 3 hours ago
Beto O'Rourke's 2020 bid draws mixed reactions in El Paso, Texas
Madeleine Rivera By Madeleine Rivera | Fox News

EL PASO, Texas – Proper Printshop began printing the shirts as soon as they opened at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

The clothing featured phrases like “Beto 2020” with an image of the former El Paso, Texas, congressman wearing Old Glory sunglasses.

“It’s cool to know that someone from El Paso, a town like ours, can strive to do something that incredible,” designer Patrick Gabaldon said of Beto O’Rourke’s decision to enter the crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates.

Gabaldon first created the images when O’Rourke was running for the Senate seat against incumbent Ted Cruz last year, a race that propelled O'Rourke into the national spotlight.

While he ultimately lost that midterm election to Cruz by a few percentage points, O’Rourke gained name recognition and became known for his fundraising prowess, raising an eye-popping $80 million during his run.

Though he initially said he wasn’t going to make a presidential run, O’Rourke reversed that decision, announcing in the wee hours of Thursday morning.

"Amy and I are happy to share with you that I'm running to serve you as the next president of the United States of America,” he said in a video.

By noon, several people had requested the shirts. Excitement among El Pasoans was growing.

“I think he’s going to be a good run. I think he’ll do much better [than] our current president. And, I’m just a Democratic person. So he has my vote,” said Alan Zambrano.

O’Rourke was in Iowa for the first few stops along his campaign trail. He visited Keokuk, Fort Madison, Burlington, and Muscatine, rallying voters and sharing his views for the country.

He called for guaranteed, high-quality health care and action on climate change.

"This is our final chance, the scientists are absolutely unanimous on this, that we have no more than 12 years to take incredibly bold action on this crisis,” said O’Rourke.

Still, some are less than enthused about his run.

“I am not in support of him as a candidate. I believe that the Democrats have to sort out what they’re going to do. I believe that President Trump will continue as the president, and I wish Beto the best of luck,” said Steven Nagy.

Others say they have little faith in the political system at all.

“I’m disillusioned with the representation of the people. I feel that our political leaders are more representing the big business and money than the individuals themselves throughout the U.S,” said Tafari Nugent.

Though some say O’Rourke’s candidacy raises excitement among Texans, politics professor Todd Curry, from the University of Texas at El Paso, is wary of notions that the candidate could flip this red state.

“I still think we have to wait a few more election cycles until Texas is put into play,” said Curry.

O’Rourke is set to hold a kickoff rally in El Paso on March 30.

More at https://www.foxnews.com/politics/beto-orourkes-2020-bid-draws-mixed-reactions-in-el-paso-texas

My Grandpa Bobby's name was Robert Francis ….Honest TRUTH..

Beto O'Rourke was part of hacking group as a teen where he wrote story about running over children
Robin Opsahl, Brianne Pfannenstiel and Christal Hayes, Des Moines Register
Published 2:42 p.m. CT March 15, 2019 | Updated 12:07 p.m. CT March 16, 2019

Beto O' Rourke announced his 2020 run for president, saying "we are truly now, more than ever, the last great hope of Earth." USA TODAY

Presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke acknowledged during a campaign stop Friday that he was once part of a hacking group, but did not say whether he regrets his involvement.

“It was something that I was a part of when I was a teenager in El Paso a long, long time ago,” O'Rourke said, one day after announcing he was running for president in 2020.

The Texas Democrat was a member of the Cult of the Dead Cow, called the CDC, one of the oldest groups of hackers in the United States, according to a Reuters investigation. The CDC is known for coining the phrase "hacktivism," and releasing tools that allow less tech-savvy users to hack Windows computers.

O'Rourke, 46, was a member of the group in the 1980s. He's been involved in tech since: he co-founded the Stanton Street Technology Group, a web design company in El Paso.

“I haven’t seen the piece,” he said, declining to say whether he regrets his involvement in the group.

The Reuters piece also detailed some of O'Rourke's posts on the CDC bulletin boards under the name 'Psychedellic Warlord', which included a fictional story he wrote at 15 of children being run over by a car.

The story details a first-person account of a troubled individual driving home and noticing two children crossing the street. O'Rourke includes details, such as the pressing of the gas pedal and the sounds of the children crying after the car hits them. He characterized mowing down the children as an "act of love" and "simply ecstasy."

"I was so fascinated for a moment, that when after I had stopped my vehicle, I just sat in a daze, sweet visions filling my head," O'Rourke wrote, according to Reuters.

The article also describes how his involvement in the group lead to political engagement later in life: he helped get women involved in the hacking group and argued with neo-Nazis on the group's bulletin board.

Reuters reported: "There is no indication that O’Rourke ever engaged in the edgiest sorts of hacking activity, such as breaking into computers or writing code that enabled others to do so."

O'Rourke characterized his involvement in the group as a right of passage for teens during the 1980s. Reuters reported that members looked for ways to play video games for free, use computer skills to go around the high price of using the Web and share profane stories that conservative parents wouldn't approve of.

"When Dad bought an Apple IIe and a 300-baud modem and I started to get on boards, it was the Facebook of its day," O'Rourke told Reuters "You just wanted to be part of a community.”

Those in the hacking group kept O'Rourke's participation a secret for years, according to Reuters. Some members have helped with political campaigning, including during his failed Senate race against Republican Ted Cruz.

O'Rourke, who was a little known Congressman from El Paso when Trump was elected, officially entered the presidential race on Thursday, ending months of speculation that began after the Democrat narrowly lost the Senate race.

The announcement made O'Rourke the second Texan to enter the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, which already has 12 other announced candidates. He also becomes the first prominent El Paso politician to seek the nation's highest office and the only candidate in the race who lives on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Published 1 hour ago
Beto O'Rourke says he never took LSD, promises to stop using profanities
By Frank Miles | Fox News

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke had some moments of reckoning on the campaign trail Sunday in Wisconsin, denying he'd ever taken the drug LSD and vowing to stop using profanities, especially in front of kids.

He also said there was “nothing” he hasn’t already revealed about his past that could hurt his candidacy. O’Rourke previously admitted to a 1998 arrest for drunken driving.

O’Rourke was asked about his past drug use after signing a person’s skateboard.

During a stop in Madison, he also pledged to stop using the F-word while campaigning, a profanity he deployed frequently while running for the U.S. Senate in Texas and while exploring his presidential bid.

O’Rourke told a voter who asked about his language: “Great point, and I don’t intend to use the F-word going forward. Point taken, and very strongly made. ... We’re going to keep it clean.”

O'Rourke had declared, “I’m so f--king proud of you guys” on national television during his concession speech in November after he lost his Senate race to incumbent Republican Ted Cruz.

About 400 people came to the coffee shop to hear O’Rourke. Half made it inside and half listened from the sidewalk through the opened door.

“This state is fundamental to any prospect we have of electing a Democrat to the presidency in 2020,” O’Rourke said, adding that he was “really glad” Milwaukee was chosen to host the 2020 Democratic national convention. The city, which O’Rourke was visiting later Sunday, beat out Miami and Houston.

O’Rourke noted 20 years ago he toured the state with his punk rock band. He said he’s modeling his campaign off the “punk rock adventure,” which for him meant showing up in many places and meeting people.

O’Rourke said as a punk rocker, he traveled through Wisconsin in a Plymouth Satellite station wagon. He’s been campaigning for president in a minivan.

I am already so sick of seeing these fucks on the local news...With the dnc coming here that is all the news covers...The convention will be a huge failure...MARK MY WORDS...Milwaukee will fail..
Liberal shit hole...

US election 2020: Beto O'Rourke breaks fundraising record
40 minutes ago

In his first day of campaigning as a presidential candidate, Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke raised $6.1m (£4.6m), the largest of any 2020 candidate so far.

The rising star's online fundraising haul managed to beat out Senator Bernie Sanders' record of $5.9m last month in the first 24 hours of his campaign.

Like other Democrats, Mr O'Rourke has refused to take any money from special interest lobby groups or corporations.

The 46-year-old is one of 15 Democrats now in a bid for the White House.

According to his campaign, he received donations from every state and territory, totalling $6,136,763. The campaign did not release how many donors contributed.

In a statement, Mr O'Rourke said: "In just 24 hours, Americans across this country came together to prove that it is possible to run a true grassroots campaign for president."

This is not the first time his campaign has broken fundraising records. When he ran against Republican Ted Cruz for his Texas Senate seat, he broke Senate fundraising records by amassing more than $80m.

While Mr O'Rourke ultimately lost his tight race against Mr Cruz, he demonstrated an ability to run a successful campaign and drew comparisons with former President Barack Obama.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Mr O'Rourke said he had no "large-dollar fundraisers planned" and was ruling out "taking any PAC [Political Action Committee] money or any lobbyist money ever".

Mr O'Rourke's fundraising figure comes on the heels of his three-day campaign tour road trip across Iowa, the state that will hold the first US presidential caucus.

He will be campaigning in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania this week.

A big target on the Texan

During his Senate race last year, Beto O'Rourke raised money like a presidential candidate.

That was in a race against a Republican candidate, Ted Cruz, who was intensely disliked by the Democratic base, however.

Now that the Texan is a presidential candidate, could he replicate his success when his competition is a diverse field of like-minded opponents?

If the early results are any indication, the answer is a resounding yes.

The Texan's $6.1m mark in 24 hours put him ahead of even Bernie Sanders, whose small-donor fundraising prowess was thought to be unrivalled.

It remains to be seen whether Mr O'Rourke's pace can be sustained.

What is certain, however, is that this eye-popping number will put a big target on the Texan's back. Even if current polls don't show him as a front-runner, his opponents are going to treat him as such.

Other candidates are already taking veiled swipes at him, and their supporters and surrogates are pointing out his thin resume and sometimes chequered past.

This is just the beginning.

The 2020 Democratic field is a crowded one, with over a dozen lawmakers vying for the presidential nomination, including senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar and governors John Hickenlooper and Jay Inslee.

Mr O'Rourke and Mr Sanders have led the group thus far in terms of fundraising.

US dollars raised on first day (in millions)
Figures released by campaigns not confirmed by election officials

* First 48 hours
Source: Campaign disclosures

Ms Harris raised $1.5m online in the first 24 hours of her campaign, while Ms Klobuchar reported $1m in the first two days. Mr Hickenlooper and Mr Inslee have also raised over $1m within days, US media reported.

Candidates will officially report their fundraising totals for the first quarter to the Federal Election Commission on 15 April.

Published 1 hour ago
Beto O'Rourke seemingly endorses third-trimester abortions: 'That should be a decision the woman makes'
By Gregg Re | Fox News


White House hopeful Beto O'Rourke seemingly endorsed the practice of third-trimester abortions at a campaign event in Ohio on Monday, less than a month after Senate Democrats blocked a bill that would have required doctors to provide medical care to newborns amid a swirling infanticide controversy in Virginia.

The third trimester extends from the 28th week of pregnancy up until birth, and polls consistently show that nearly 80 percent of Americans oppose such late abortions.

"Are you for third-trimester abortions?" an attendee of the campaign event in Cleveland asked O'Rourke, before describing the medical alternatives to such a procedure and disputing the medical necessity of late-term abortions. "Are you going to protect the lives of third-trimester babies? ... Are you for or against third-trimester abortions?"

O'Rourke responded: "The question is about abortion and reproductive rights. And, my answer to you is, that should be a decision the woman makes. I trust her."

He then quickly took another question, as sustained applause broke out.

Fox News reached out to O'Rourke's campaign to confirm his position on third-trimester abortions but did not receive a reply.

Alexandra Desanctis, a staff writer at the conservative National Review, characterized O'Rourke's remarks as a cynical sleight of hand.

“Notice how Beto takes an articulate question about abortion *after fetal viability* and the medical details of these procedures and restates it to the crowd as a question about “abortion and reproductive rights,” DeSanctis tweeted. “That’s what they have to do to defend third-trimester abortion."

O'Rourke already has become known on the campaign trail for speaking in generalities, and it remained unclear whether he intended specifically to endorse third-term abortions during his comments on Monday. In January, O'Rourke sat for a widely panned interview with The Washington Post, during which he refused to offer specifics on an array of policy issues. Last week, O'Rourke said he was "kicking himself" for his answers during that interview -- including when he offered the following prescription for the immigration crisis: "I don't know."

However, there was perhaps at least one clue as to O'Rourke's intent in his career as a legislator. He co-sponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act when he was a Texas congressman in 2017 -- a bill that would have lifted most state restrictions on abortion, including waiting periods.

Abortion already has emerged as a hot-button issue in the upcoming presidential campaign -- as progressives fear that the new conservative majority on the Supreme Court could roll back abortion rights that have existed for generations, while conservatives have accused prominent Democrats of indifference to infanticide.

All prominent Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls in the Senate last month voted down The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act last month, including Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

The GOP-backed bill would have required "any health care practitioner present" at the time of a birth, including during a failed abortion, to "exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age."

In response, President Trump tweeted that "This will be remembered as one of the most shocking votes in the history of Congress." Many Democrats had panned the bill as merely a stunt.

The legislation was introduced after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, endorsed post-birth abortions while discussing The Repeal Act, a state bill which sought to repeal restrictions on third-trimester abortions. Virginia Democratic Del. Kathy Tran, a sponsor of that bill, was asked at a hearing if a woman about to give birth and dilating could still request an abortion.

"My bill would allow that, yes,” Tran said.

Northam, in a later interview with a radio station, backed up Tran. "When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of, obviously, the mother, with the consent of the physicians, more than one physician, by the way," he said. "And, it's done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that's non-viable."

Northam continued: "So, in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother. So, I think this was really blown out of proportion."

Published 1 hour ago
Beto bashed: I normally hate the PC police but dads do matter and they don't get a pass anymore
By Penny Young Nance | Fox News

Finally, the left has found a reason to criticize Beto O’Rourke.

Kicking off his presidential campaign in Iowa last week, the former congressman from Texas, who was last seen losing a Senate race, told a small group of supporters that his wife “is raising, sometimes with my help,” their children.

His tone was apparently self-deprecating, but as the New York Times reported, some on the left saw this as an expression of his white male privilege. And it aggravated concerns elicited by his campaign video, in which his wife sat by his side and smiled lovingly at him, never saying a word.

O’Rourke quickly apologized for his characterization of himself as a detached father. “I think the criticism is right on,” he said the next day. “My ham-handed attempt to try to highlight the fact that Amy has the lion’s share of the burden in our family – that she actually works but is the primary parent in our family, especially when I served in Congress, especially when I was on the campaign trail – should have also been a moment for me to acknowledge that that is far too often the case, not just in politics, but just in life in general.”

I am unsure what set them off. Was the problem that he was bragging about spending a couple of years on a failed U.S. Senate campaign, followed by a foolish road trip building his social media following? Or was it that he has indeed been a largely absent father for a couple of years? Either of these facts would be enough to decimate a woman’s campaign, and that bugs them too.

The usual cries of “white male privilege” and O’Rourke’s almost ritualistic admission of guilt make it easy to dismiss the issue as just another example of social justice warriors and the radical left overreacting with criticisms of every little thing any public figure says. But although I’m generally inclined to defend people who are under attack from the "PC police," I think O’Rourke’s liberal critics have a fair point.

His distant parenting may not be that different from many fathers a generation or two ago, but today we expect more from fathers, and for good reason. Study after study has proven that children thrive when fathers are active in their lives.

This is a hard subject because dads are sometimes absent due to death, military service or other hardships. (Studies have shown that children process that differently than abandonment.) We women blame ourselves for everything, including a loser ex-husband, and we shouldn’t.

But let’s not get confused. In a perfect world Dad is around and engaged with his kids. It’s best for them and for us.

Years ago, we wouldn’t have been shocked by a CEO father or politician joking about being absent and conceding the raising of his children to his wife. Thankfully, for the left and the right, those days are gone.

This isn’t to say that men and women will ever play the same roles as parents. Women have higher expectations for themselves and for other women. We give birth. We nurse in the middle of the night. We love so deeply that it hurts. Men can only do one of those things.

But dads count, and they don’t get a pass anymore. That’s why it’s so troubling that a presidential candidate was so glib about how little time he spends with his family, without any apparent feeling of sadness.

Contrast that with the frank and self-critical assessment of the former CEO of Pepsico, Indra Nooyi, who said bluntly in 2014 that “women can’t have it all” and that because of her career, “if you ask [my] daughters, I’m not sure they will say that I’ve been a good mom. I’m not sure.”

My husband and I are on the cusp of becoming empty nesters; our last child goes to college in the fall, so we’re preparing for a new normal that doesn’t revolve around the needs of children. We both are working through very complicated feelings, from great relief to deep sadness.

Even though I was the primary caregiver to my children when they were young, I can’t help wondering whether I was right to go back to work full-time 10 years ago. Was I too “lax”? Was I gone too much?

At the same time, I’m grateful that my husband was – and still is – deeply devoted to our children and family. He made career sacrifices that helped him optimize his time with his children, just as I did. We are all better for recognizing the short time we have to parent, and for fighting to achieve a balance that lets us engage, parent and love our children.

I don’t regret one moment of those years when I leaned out of my career to stay home full or part-time. But I do regret some of those days I didn’t.

BWAHAHAHA ↑

So, how big was Beto's kickoff rally??

Media reports between one and two thousand. Beto's team claims 6,000. You decide:

https://heavy.com/news/2019/03/beto-orourke-el-paso-rally-crowd-photos-how-many/

White Irish guy does not stand a chance to get the democrat nomination..

Published 1 hour ago
O'Rourke hauls in $9.4 million within weeks of launch, hails 'grassroots strength'


Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas announced Wednesday that he raised $9.4 million in the first 18 days of his Democratic presidential campaign.

O’Rourke’s campaign cash figure pales in comparison to the $18.2 million reported a day earlier by Sen. Bernie Sanders for the first quarter of the year. And it lags behind the $12 million reported by Sen. Kamala Harris of California.

But O’Rourke brought in his total in just 18 days -- from the mid-March launch of his presidential campaign until the end of the first quarter of fundraising on March 31. Sanders, the independent from Vermont who in February announced his second straight bid for the White House, hauled in his total over 41 days. And Harris, who declared her candidacy in January, raised her money over a 70-day period.

"In just 18 days, people in every state and from every walk of life have organized in homes, contributed a few bucks online and united together to show that the power of people is far greater than the PACs, corporations and special interest that have captured, corrupted and corroded our democracy for far too long," O’Rourke said in a statement.

And he touted that the fundraising figures were a “sign of our grassroots strength during the first two weeks of our campaign.”

Nearly two-thirds of the money O'Rourke reported was raised in his first day as a candidate. He grabbed headlines in mid-March after announcing that he brought in an eye-popping $6.1 million in the 24 hours after he officially launched his campaign.

The O’Rourke campaign also spotlighted that 98 percent of contributions were less than $200 and that the average donation was $43. Sanders, in reporting his numbers, highlighted that his haul came from 900,000 individual contributions and that his average donation was $20.

O’Rourke became a Democratic Party rock star last autumn as the three-term congressman from El Paso, Texas raised $80 million during his Senate campaign and came close to defeating conservative Sen. Cruz of Texas in the midterm elections.

After announcing his White House bid last month, O’Rouke was showered with heavy media attention as he quickly crisscrossed the campaign trail in the early voting primary and caucus states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg was the first 2020 Democratic contender to announce first-quarter campaign cash numbers. His $7 million haul was further evidence that the one-time long shot for the nomination was rising in stature and strength.

And New York-based entrepreneur Andrew Yang reported raising $1.7 million.

The campaigns have until April 15 to file their fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission.

Saw this elsewhere. It's from Beto's failed run for the Senate.

Let's hope he doesn't try this shit in his run for the White House.

Published 1 hour ago
Beto O'Rourke confronted at town hall about stingy charitable donations
By Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News

2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke was confronted by a voter at a town hall on Tuesday about his charitable giving, after recently released tax returns showed he and his wife gave away a tiny fraction of their income.

The filings show the couple had given $1,166 to charity in 2017 despite having a combined income of $370,412, which calculates to roughly one-third of 1 percent of their income. According to The Washington Post’s James Hohmann, that places O’Rourke last among the 2020 candidates competing in the Democratic primaries.

According to Post correspondent Jenna Johnson, a student who attended the town hall at the University of Virginia asked the former Texas representative why her sister, who was a recent college graduate, donated more to charity while making much less than he and his wife.

O’Rourke responded by saying he does his best to give back to communities, but noted that some of the ways he gives back are “immeasurable.”

“I’ve served in public office since 2005. I do my best to contribute to the success of my community, of my state, and now, of my country. There are ways that I do this that are measurable and there are ways that I do this that are immeasurable. There are charities that we donate to that we’ve recorded and itemized, others that we have donated to that we have not.”

He went on to suggest that his attendance at that town hall, being away from his family, was itself a charitable act.

“I’m doing everything that I can right now, spending this time with you -- not with our kiddos, not back home in El Paso -- because I want to sacrifice everything to make sure that we meet this moment of truth with everything that we’ve got,” O’Rourke told the student.

Bwahaha:

Beto O'Rourke unveils climate plan with Yosemite as backdrop
KATHLEEN RONAYNE and WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press • April 29, 2019

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke has announced his first major policy initiative, a $5 trillion plan to combat climate change that he says will keep the Earth from sliding past the point of no return in less than a generation.

The former Texas congressman unveiled his proposal on Monday from California's Yosemite National Park, a dramatic backdrop for a move he hopes can jumpstart a campaign that began to much national fanfare but has seen some of that luster fade in recent weeks.

The plan calls for increasing taxes on "corporations and the wealthiest among us" and "ending the tens of billions of dollars of tax breaks currently given to fossil fuel companies" while offering federal grants to encourage innovative housing and transportation improvements.

It includes $1.5 trillion in direct federal funding, while seeking to incentivize an additional $3.5 trillion from states, private capital and other sources over 10 years to improve aging infrastructure nationwide and to take "significant actions to defend communities" preparing for intensified floods, droughts, hurricanes, fires and other natural disasters fueled by a changing climate.

Like others in the packed field of Democrats seeking the White House, O'Rourke promised to sign climate change-fighting executive orders on the first day of his presidency — including rejoining the 2016 Paris Agreement, from which President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S.

O'Rourke had previously praised the Green New Deal , an ambitious but longshot initiative backed by some of the most liberal Democrats in Congress which calls for the U.S. to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. But the plan announced Monday wants to achieve that goal by 2050, while promising to get halfway there in just the next 11 years.

"This country needs direction when it comes to meeting the single greatest threat that we've ever faced," O'Rourke told reporters after a walking tour of Yosemite Valley, past pine trees and through the mist from a rushing waterfall.

The Sunrise Movement, the environmental group behind the Green New Deal, said in a statement that O'Rourke's proposal "gets a lot right" but "gets the science wrong," and expressed dismay that he was backing off previous support for net-zero emissions by 2030.

"Beto claims to support the Green New Deal, but his plan is out of line with the timeline it lays out and the scale of action that scientists say is necessary to take here in the United States to give our generation a livable future," the group said in a statement.

California, meanwhile, already has set a goal of generating 100 percent of its electricity from noncarbon sources and achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2045.

The announcement came during O'Rourke's first visit as a presidential candidate to California, a state that's experiencing more destructive and deadlier wildfires due in part to climate change. A blaze last summer caused a partial shutdown of Yosemite, and O'Rourke on Sunday met privately with firefighters in Mariposa County who battled it for weeks.

He toured the park, famous for its breathtaking vistas and giant sequoia trees, with Anne Kelly, director of the University of California-Merced's Yosemite Field Station and Leslie Martinez, an environmental justice advocate from the state's Central Valley, where O'Rourke planned to campaign later Monday. Kelly explained that the famously resilient sequoias are beginning to show signs of stress from a recent, multi-year drought.

O'Rourke called his first visit to Yosemite a "religious experience."

"Driving in, there are no words that could express what I was seeing or the way that I was feeling," he said. "And then to learn about some of the challenges that Yosemite faces ... the composition of what we are seeing around us is changing literally before our eyes."

O'Rourke stopped to talk to a few visitors as he concluded the walk, most of whom were not from California or even the United States.

The day before, he drove hours from San Francisco to Mariposa, home to fewer than 20,000 people and, in the 2016 presidential primary, only about 6,000 voters.

His California swing includes no fundraisers, which are typical for presidential hopefuls who are visiting the state that's home to big donor bases such as Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

"It is unusual to come to California, where there are so many Democratic donors, and decide not to raise money," said Rose Kapolczynski, who managed former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer's campaigns. "Maybe he's doing so well online that he thinks he cannot raise money on this trip and try to make a point of wanting to talk to people instead."

O'Rourke opened his campaign last month to large crowds in key early states such as Iowa and New Hampshire but also in battleground areas that included Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio, as well as solid early fundraising . But he's since seen some of the buzz around his upstart campaign die down.

He may be hoping his "I'll-campaign-anywhere" style is novel enough to sprawling California to gain attention. The state moved its 2020 presidential primary to March with the goal of gaining more sway in the nominating contest. But with nearly 40 million people to reach in California alone, breaking through is tough for any candidate.

"We're the black hole of politics," said Bob Mulholland, a Democratic National Committee member from California who is supporting Harris. "Almost anything you do in this state, no one notices."

Published 24 mins ago
Beto: We only have ’10 years’ left on Earth if we don’t address climate change
By Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News

The Texas Democrat's staff shrinks as the field of primary challengers grows; Peter Doocy has the details.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke sounded the alarms on Monday, saying that civilization has only “ten years” left on Earth if no action is taken on climate change.

The former Texas congressman unveiled the first major policy proposal of his candidacy, which is a climate change initiative that would cost $5 trillion in over 10 years in hopes of reaching zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Appearing on MSNBC, O'Rourke promoted his proposal but was asked about his prior support from the oil and gas industry, and whether the relationship would be a problem going forward.

"Do you see the oil and gas industry as an opponent in that? Won't you have to declare yourself in opposition to their interests?" MSNBC host Chris Hayes asked.

O'Rourke responded "yes," but said he is optimistic that the industry will take part in his initiative.

"We know that certain oil and gas corporations have been fighting public policy on this issue, have been hiding their own science and research at the expense of our climate and human life," O'Rourke told Hayes. "So whenever those two things come in contrast or in opposition, I'm always going to choose the people of this country."

"Having said that, I want to make sure those who work in the oil and gas industry, those who work in the fossil fuel industry are brought along as partners to make sure that we make this transition in the ten years we have left to us as the science and scientists tell us to make the kind of bold change that we need," the former congressman continued.

"We cannot afford to alienate a significant part of this country and we cannot do this by half measure or by only half of us. It can't be Democrats versus Republicans, bit cities versus small towns, we all have a shared interest in a cleaner future for this country. So I'm going to work with, listen to everyone anytime, anywhere to make sure that we advance this agenda and get to net zero green house gas emissions by 2050."

Beto O’Rourke Re-Enters the 2020 Race With Maddow Interview: ‘I Recognize That I Can Do a Better Job’
Alex Thomas
about 6 hours ago


After a thundering entrance into the 2020 field that included a record-breaking fundraising haul, Beto O’Rourke has struggled with slipping poll numbers, so he changed his strategy Monday night by doing two things that feel like firsts in his campaign: putting on a jacket and appearing in a TV studio for a prime-time interview.

“I recognize that I can do a better job, also, of talking to a national audience beyond the town halls we are having,” O’Rourke told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.

Since his launch, he’s been doing town halls at a blistering pace, but while he’s crisscrossing the nation, other candidates have been getting more attention.

Among other things, O’Rourke pitched himself as a candidate who can tempt and turn Republican voters.

“Texas and its 38 Electoral College votes have been unlocked,” he told Maddow.


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"And now for the first time in at least my adult lifetime, maybe since 1976, Texas and its 38 electoral college votes have been unlocked." -Beto O'Rourke

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11:07 PM - May 13, 2019
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O’Rourke had a lot of success working coffee shops and town halls during his Senate race, in which he was narrowly defeated by Ted Cruz. During that race, he also carried his supporters on an almost constant livestream that captured a few authentic moments. However, that grassroots campaign style hasn’t translated to the presidential race quite so smoothly.

The Texan’s new style definitely puts him in front of a lot more in-studio cameras. On Tuesday, he is appearing on “The View” for the first time. A few of the other 2020 candidates have already made appearances on that show. O’Rourke will also do a CNN town hall next week, which has been able to boost multiple campaigns, most notably Pete Buttigieg‘s.

After a strong early showing, O’Rourke has fallen to sixth in the RealClearPolitics polling average. Former Vice President Joe Biden has a stranglehold on the field, leading Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) by over 20 points. But the primary elections are still several long months away.