On March 2, CNN published a statement by Paul Begala which attacks anyone who runs for president outside the two major parties. Begala is a Democratic consultant who worked for Bill Clinton’s campaigns.
On March 3, former Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings issued a statement criticizing the Begala opinion. Below is the text of the Rawlings statement. Rawlings is part of No Labels.
“Hi Paul, I’m Mike Rawlings. I served as mayor of Dallas for 8 years. I’m not a Washington insider … I am just out here in middle America and wanted to respond to your CNN article about No Labels. You said we’re going to spoil the election and throw it to Trump.
I can tell you this: I’ll never be part of something like that.
I’m a founding co-chair of No Labels and you and I have two things in common:
We’re both Democrats.
And we both love this country and want the best for it.
But there’re some misconceptions in your article I need to clear up.
No Labels spent the last year working to get on the ballot in states across the country for a simple reason:
The American people want inspiring choices in the 2024 presidential election, and there’s a good chance the major parties won’t give us one.
This is an insurance policy for the country, and it’s one we don’t want to use.
But if the parties keep forcing the American people down a road they don’t want to go, there’s a big opening for an independent. I know you’ve seen the polls that over 60 percent of Americans don’t want a Trump-Biden rematch in 24. And No Labels’ numbers are showing that an independent ticket can win outright and that the ticket pulls evenly from both sides.
If you want to hear a little more about our perspective, or share your own, I have a speaker series here in Dallas and would love to have you down.”
