Article snippet: Democrats are seeing a silver lining to Rep. MORE (R). It means O’Rourke, who emerged in the midterms as a progressive star, is free to run for president. Talk of O’Rourke running for the White House would have happened if he had defeated Cruz, to be sure. But Democrats say it shouldn’t be quieted by his loss. O’Rourke finished within 3 percentage points of Cruz, an exceptional performance compared to past Democratic standards in recent Texas Senate races. Democrats across the country say that if O’Rourke wants to run for president, he has the potential to take the primary by storm. “If he wants to run, he should do it,” said Democratic strategist Maria Cardona. “He now has name recognition, a widely successful fundraising operation, a young fresh face with a sprinkling of woke, a cool persona, a new perspective, he speaks Spanish and would be an exciting and upbeat candidate,” she said. Another strategist was even more enthusiastic. “I hate to say this because it would piss off a lot of Democrats, but the fact is we have so many people and we really have nobody that's thrilling, nobody that would send a thrill up Chris Matthews’s leg except for Beto,” the strategist said, referencing the MSNBC “Hardball” host, who expressed such excitement about hearing former President Obama speak. “You know how I know? I had friends calling me to ask about him. I would overhear conversations about him. He's generating the kind of buzz we haven't seen since 'hope and chan... Link to the full article to read more