Can Rick Noriega ‘get in the game’ tonight?

With John Cornyn’s first of two Texas Senate race debates with Rick Noriega up today, Noriega has the opportunity to get name recognition. And he needs it, because, in a sign of the state of his campaign, he allegedly doesn’t even have enough of it in what should be his base in South Texas.

I agree that I’ve not seen much yard sign activity for Noriega — or for Cornyn.

But, Enrique Rangel cautions us to remember even Victor Morales.

That said, I think Noriega needs to hit Cornyn harder on the home foreclosures, not just more abstract parts of the bailout. He needs to explain to independents his opposition to a border fence in a larger context. If he’s having name recognition in the Valley, he needs to address that. He also needs to ride Obama’s coattails to get down-ballot black votes from what will be a heavy black turnout.

That said, I’m not optimistic for him unless Obama or Biden show up in Texas to do more than cash campaign checks, or else the Slickster follows in Hillary’s footsteps.