Texan delivers a strong performance

Beto busts out at CNN town hall

Lagging in the polls, the Texan delivers a strong performance onstage in Iowa.

By DAVID SIDERS

Beto O’Rourke has held more than 150 town halls since announcing his presidential campaign.

On Tuesday, it showed.

Appearing on CNN for the first televised town hall of his campaign, O’Rourke enlivened an audience at Drake University with a presence that he has practiced for two months — sometimes in front of hundreds of supporters, sometimes only a few.

Though he's slumped in polls, his performance served as a reminder of why O’Rourke was able to galvanize Democrats in his near-upset of Sen. Ted Cruz last year. He has an uncommon command of a stage — and an increasingly precise policy platform.

For 70 minutes, O’Rourke interacted with voters and projected the same varied ideological profile that has allowed him to appeal to both moderate and progressive Democrats — but also invite criticism from across the political spectrum.

He called, as he has before, for legalizing marijuana and expunging the records of people arrested for possessing it. He said he would impose an abortion litmus test on judicial nominees to ensure that “every nominee to every federal bench, including the Supreme Court, understands and believes the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade is the settled law of the land.”

But O’Rourke stopped short of supporting efforts to boycott spending money in states that pass restrictive abortion measures, saying his “alternative solution” is to encourage more women to run for office to “change the composition of these state legislatures.”

He called for universal background checks for people who buy guns and a ban on the sale of “weapons of war.” But he sidestepped a question about whether he supported Sen. Cory Booker’s proposal to require licenses for all gun owners, saying, “I think that’s something that we need to look at.”

“We should have a full hearing on that, and if it makes sense to the American public, then let’s move forward.”

But it was Trump, more than any rival Democrat, that O’Rourke took on Tuesday, seeking to present himself as a credible challenger to him. He called for Democrats to begin impeachment proceedings against the president. And when asked if pursuing impeachment could help Trump solidify his base — a concern of many Democrats — O’Rourke said, “I understand the political implications of this.”

“But I think this moment calls for us to look beyond the politics and the polling, and even the next election,” he said. “It’s the very sanctity of the ballot box, and the very future of the world’s greatest democracy. And if this is important to us, and I think it is, then we need to look past those short-term consequences to the consequences to the future of this country.”

He said, “It’s the only way that we’re going to get to the facts necessary to have that accountability and justice.”

It was fitting that O’Rourke sought to jump-start his presidential campaign at a town hall moderated by CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash. She also moderated the CNN town hall last year at which O’Rourke, then a candidate for Senate in Texas, insisted he had no plans to run for president, even if his Senate run fell short.

In the seven months since, O’Rourke changed his mind, became an instant front-runner, fell behind in public opinion polls and finally — seated beside Bash on Tuesday — sought to reboot his campaign.

Before the debate, O'Rourke insisted he wasn't troubled by polls or the possibility that he could be competing for support with the Democratic front-runner, Joe Biden, or South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

“In terms of the assessment, who the hell knows this far out from the first caucuses or elections,” O’Rourke told reporters on Tuesday. “There’s so much time, so many people to meet. So many highs and lows that every single candidate is going to experience. So, I really am not concerned about that.”

Bash and the audience at Drake University were largely accommodating, focusing heavily on policy and allowing O’Rourke to ask his questioners themselves the kind of follow-up questions that he often asks in smaller venues.

The night started, however, with a tease.

“Nice haircut,” Bash said when O’Rourke came on stage, a reference to O’Rourke’s livestreaming recently of a visit to his barber shop in El Paso, Texas. “So, if you make it to the White House, what else will you be livestreaming?”

O’Rourke’s intent, he said, was to showcase his hometown and his immigrant barber — “to help tell the American story.”

“This is a country of immigrants and asylum seekers and refugees from the world over,” he said. “Nothing to be afraid of, everything to celebrate.”

The crowd regularly applauded O'Rourke, and by the end of the town hall, O'Rourke was left wanting more. He invited supporters to go to his website to "ask me any question that you want to, and I will do my best to answer each and every single one of those."

"That level of accountability will make me a better candidate, and I hope a better president for you and others."

The CNN town hall has become a fixture of the 2020 campaign, providing candidates a national platform ahead of the first Democratic primary debate next month. It is viewed as significant by presidential campaigns not only for the viewership, but for the moments of video, captured on a presidential-looking stage, that a candidate can repackage for use on social media and in fundraising appeals.

O’Rourke was raising money off of the appearance even before he arrived in Des Moines, urging supporters to help him reach a goal of 25,000 new donations by the end of the month. O’Rourke, who raised $9.4 million in the first quarter of the year, declined to provide an update on his more recent fundraising prior to the town hall.

The former Texas congressman said he had prepared for the event by thinking “about some of the questions that will come up.”

For the most part, the answers O'Rourke gave were similar to ones he has shared before. And it could be unclear for several days how significant a benefit he will derive.

His campaign, however, was elated.

“THIS is the @betoorourke that voters have seen at 154 and counting town halls in this campaign; and many more in Texas: listening, thoughtful, detailed, and focussed on bringing people together,” his campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, said on Twitter. “So glad America is getting to see for themselves tonight.”