The Evening Brief: July 31, 2012

Culled:

•   Dewhurst spokesman denies Cruz camp’s suggestion it’s launched 'dirty trick' calls to confuse pro-Cruz voters (The Dallas Morning News): "About a half-dozen supporters of Ted Cruz reported to the candidate’s campaign staff Tuesday that they’d received mysterious calls urging them to vote for Cruz 'tomorrow' — that is, Wednesday, when the Senate runoff will be history. 'It’s very strange,' said Cruz campaign manager John Drogin. 'There’s been about a half dozen specific reports of these calls now, and we can’t account for them.' … David Dewhurst spokesman Matt Hirsch on Tuesday afternoon flatly denied the Cruz camp’s suggestion of dirty tricks. There were no misdirection calls authorized by or launched to help Dewhurst’s Senate campaign, Hirsch said. 'It’s ridiculous,' he said."

•   Ted Cruz’s secret: Mastering social media (Politico): "Ted Cruz announced his Senate run 18 months ago in an unconventional way emblematic of the campaign to come: on a conference call with Texas’s conservative bloggers. Then he tweeted it. Since then, Cruz climbed from obscurity to the brink of the year’s biggest upset and, in the process, became Exhibit A of how to effectively use social media to grow a movement."

•   Texas Senate Duel is Off the Charts for Outside Spending (OpenSecrets): "At least as important to the two candidates are the outside groups that have committed substantial portions of their bank accounts to the race. The Texas Senate race, not even past the primary stage, has far and away seen the greatest amount of outside spending of any 2012 congressional election, helping to make it the most expensive non-presidential race this cycle."

•   Ted Cruz, conservative hybrid (The Washington Post): "Simple casting a Cruz win tonight as purely right-wing revolt would be a mistake. So would casting him as simply a Rubio-clone or a DeMint-loyalist next year, if he’s a member of the Senate. He’s the first Ted Cruz, not the second coming of anyone else."

•   10 key facts about Julian Castro (Politico): "The Democratic party announced Tuesday morning that San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro will deliver the keynote address at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Here are some facts about the rising star that you might not know."

New in The Texas Tribune:

•   Castro to Deliver Keynote at Democratic National Convention: "San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro will deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in September, following in the long-ago footsteps of Ann Richards and Barbara Jordan."

•   Speech Fuels Speculation, but Castro is Content: "With Tuesday's announcement that San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro will give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, speculation is growing about his future. But Castro tells the Tribune he's happy where he is."