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My take on the interview:

1. Mr. Stovall represents himself as a conservative and Constitutionalist and I think that, with some reservations on my part, he makes that case.

2. His promise to not raise debt, period. When the interviewer asked him about times of war or emergencies, his answer was essentially that if we cut out large parts of the government, we could accomodate those things. That’s a great sentiment, but unless the gov’t does cut off the EPA and Education, etc., that doesn’t really answer the question, i.e. given our CURRENT situation, would you vote for debt in times of war or national emergency? I think he side-stepped the question.

3. This is technical, but it matters to BECAUSE Mr. Stovall presents himself as a Constitutionalist. He made a comment about the President declaring war and the Senate “affirming” that decision. That might be a reference to the War Powers Act, but that’s not what the Constitution says.

4. I didn’t think his answers on foreign policy were very polished. As a US Senator, foreign policy is an important topic to be up on. He needs to work on that. Being asked about Iran or Syria should be stuff that he has down pat.

5. Finally, Mr. Stovall suggest that it’s a Texas Senator’s job to represent Texas. The interview asked him specifically if that still applies in a post-17th Amendment world, and Mr. Stovall affirmed that he believed it did. That’s an interesting take on the job.

Not a bad interview and a chance to get an in-depth look at one of the candidates for Senate.

Remember, a vote for ANYBODY except Cornyn reduces Cornyn’s vote totals, and if that gets below 50%, there’ll be a run-off. There’s no sense in trying to take down any of these candidates in the primary. Let them all run hard, and the winner among the challengers will hopefully get a run-off spot.