"Beto" is enough. Or, better, BETO. No one has to say O'Rourke. I worked at Sire Records and it was very convenient, to say the least, to have artists with one word names, like Madonna, Enya, Seal, Morrissey. No one has to wonder who Bono is or Cher or Flea, Prince, Beck, Divine, Drake, Björk, Ringo, Adele, Sting, Oprah, Joni, Moby, Eminem. People from my generation know exactly who Neil is.I like referring to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as Alexandria, to Bernie Sanders as Bernie, to Ammar Campa-Najjar as Ammar. When I write "Kara" on my blog there's no need to write Kara Eastman. One word names are great for familiarity (and marketing). I wish there was a way to do it for Elizabeth Warren. It just doesn't work. No one needs the "Harris" after Kamala and either Cory or Booker works for the New Jersey senator. "DiFi" isn't meant to be endreaing, but it's worked for Dianne Feinstein for decades, long before she was elected to the Senate.Any doubt who this is?Crackpot right-wing Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott claimed yesterday that Beto's following-- most Texas voters at this point-- is "cult-like. He was on Fox & Friends and claimed that Beto has "been a cult-like, very popular figure the way that he’s run the campaign, but you don’t vote on cult, you don’t vote on personality when you get to the U.S. Senate. You vote on the issues." Beto talks about issues all the time; that's practically all he ever talks about. That's why he's caught fire and why he's so popular. Cruz and his lame, dysfunctional campaign probably helped by ignoring issues and talking about Beto non-stop, claiming he wising punk rock band when he was a teenager and that he... get the smelling salts... skateboards! If he's looking for a cult in politics, look at Trump's opioid addicted followers at one of big hate-fueled rallies. That's a cult.This campaign has made Beto into a political rock star, which he hasn't really been in Congress. I mean, I know, El Paso loves him but he has been a kind of middle-of-the-road backbencher in the House. That phase is probably over for him now and if he gets into the Senate, he's going to have a big national footprint. To be fair, Cruz does too-- but in a horrible, negative way. Everyone hates him.If I write "Sherrod," "Lindsey" or "Tammy" people know I'm talking about the senator from Ohio, the senator from South Carolina and the senator from Wisconsin (even though there are 2 Senate Tammies). Last week I made a speech here in L.A. and no one had any doubt who I meant when I was talking about "Ted," even though it's such a common name. That's unusual; it normally works best for uncommon names (like Rand, Mazie, Angus, Orrin), but in a political context, "Mitch" is enough, right?And if you say "Kav," who would have to think twice-- at least this month?
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