DEMS/ELECTION/MASS SHOOTINGS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Beto O’Rourke introduced himself to the country as a changed candidate on Thursday [8-15-19], with his presidential campaign recast as a moral crusade against President Trump in the aftermath of a mass shooting in El Paso, his hometown. Mr. O’Rourke, who represented the city in Congress until the start of this year, said he would abandon the relatively traditional approach he has so far taken — with limited success — and largely detach his travel from a primary calendar that tethers most candidates to a handful of early-voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire. Instead, Mr. O’Rourke said he would now plan his political activities around confronting Mr. Trump in direct and personal terms, and highlighting what Mr. O’Rourke views as the injustices of Mr. Trump’s administration. He intends to seek out immigrant-rich towns to campaign in, and to make gun control a central issue. He outlined his new thinking about the race in a telephone interview on Wednesday evening and a speech in El Paso on Thursday morning.”
-Alexander Burns, “Beto O’Rourke’s New Approach to 2020: ‘Taking the Fight to Donald Trump’,” The New York Times online, August 15, 2019