Noting a ‘smell of desperation’ among Texas Republicans

Dan McLaughlin of National Review Online ponders the meaning of recent campaign fundraising emails.

It can be hazardous to read too much into political fundraising emails. Hyperbole, deceptive tactics, ALL CAPS, colorful fonts, and a reek of desperation come constantly from these emails from both parties. Still, we can see something from the trendlines. Just one email vendor, repdailyred.com, has spammed my inbox with over 300 emails since June. Since August 21 — a period of 25 days — they’ve sent me solicitations for four GOP Senate campaigns (each of which at least claims to be a message paid for by the campaign): one for Susan Collins, four for Michele Tafoya, 43 for Jon Husted, and 104 for Ken Paxton.

The weekly pace for the Paxton emails:

August 22: Two emails
August 23–30: Nine emails
August 31–September 6: 36 emails
September 7–13: 58 emails

The stench of flop sweat is thick. The barrage undoubtedly reflects not only the fear in the campaign and in official circles over Paxton’s perilous state, but also that this fear has sufficiently escaped official Washington that recipients of these emails are responding to them. Still, after widespread criticism of Paxton’s lackluster and lackadaisical fundraising, at least somebody is putting in some effort. Meanwhile, per David Nir and Jeff Singer at The Downballot, the cavalry is coming in to try to rescue Paxton, bearing barrelfuls of money that John Cornyn wouldn’t have needed, and which will now not be spent on Husted or other endangered Republicans:

Adimpact reports that an affiliate of the Senate Leadership Fund is spending more than $50 million on its opening ad campaign to help Republican Ken Paxton fend off Democrat James Talarico. The intervention comes one week after Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. began spending $10 million to boost Paxton in Texas’ Senate race. Both organizations are finally taking action at the end of a summer that saw Talarico, who finished June with a vast $21.5 million to $1.8 million cash advantage, make use of his strong fundraising to dominate the airwaves.