A Houston outfit called Conservative Republicans of Texas sent Dallas voters this hit piece, er, campaign mailer, ripping mayoral candidate Mike Rawlings for being a big-spending, tax-hiking, liberal Democrat in sheep’s clothing who supports Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Al Franken. Buttonholed about the mailer at a Dallas Summer Musicals fundraiser Saturday night, mayoral candidate–and proud Republican–Ron Natinsky smiled and said, “I know nothing!”
Asked for his take on the campaign so far, Natinsky–who was working the high-rollers at the DSM bash very hard–said the more people have seen David Kunkle in person, the more Kunkle’s support has eroded. He said Rawlings is not getting the bang for the big bucks he’s spending, so Rawlings has stepped up his attacks on Natinsky as well as Kunkle, at times with a subtly racial spin. Natinksy’s prediction for Saturday’s vote: turnout will be extremely low–and he’ll wind up in a runoff with Kunkle.
One personal observation: in person Natinsky is light-years more charismatic, affable and savvy than he’s come across at mayoral forums and in his TV ads. So the question arises: has he really gotten his money’s worth from political spinmeister Carol Reed?
