Fact checkers have revealed the attack ad by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst alleging Dan Patrick changed his name in the mid 1980s to avoid creditors is untrue.
At the tail end of last week, Dewhurst’s campaign released what political scholars are calling a “nuclear” attack against Patrick, his primary runoff opponent in the Republican race for lieutenant governor.
A check into those allegations showed most of the ad to be a false, but professor Mark Jones, the head of Rice University’s Political Science Department, said even as untrue it could still serve the purpose of convincing primary voters.
“I would suspect that Dewhurst is polling to see what impact these ads are having and if the poll numbers are showing them that going negative on Patrick is eroding his support and that support is going to Dewhurst then I would expect them to ratchet it up,” Jones said.
But Jones said if the numbers tell a different story, especially in the Houston market where the ads are still airing heavily, then the Dewhurst campaign may stop the attack.
