January 12, 2012 10:07 PM

REPUBLICAN PRIMARY SENATE CANDIDATES JOUST AT FIRST SERIOUS DEBATE

"Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst ran against Pres. Barack Obama....Ted Cruz ran against Dewhurst....Tom Leppert ran as the man with solutions rather than sound bites. ESPN commentator Craig James described himself as a common man..."

A Senate debate hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Empower Texans is one place where invoking the name of Congressman Ron Paul can earn you a respectable amount of appreciation and applause from an audience.

Thursday night was the first, and possibly last, time the field of Republican US Senate candidates is on the same stage to debate. The thumbnail sketch of the 90-minute debate was this: Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst ran against Pres. Barack Obama. Former Solicitor General Ted Cruz ran against Dewhurst. Former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert ran as the man with solutions rather than sound bites. ESPN commentator Craig James described himself as a common man with a strong work ethic and a love of the Constitution. And everyone could pretty much agree that Magnolia funeral director and former Magnolia ISD trustee Glenn Addison managed to tell some of the better jokes of the evening.

Addison, a Paul acolyte who invoked Paul’s name more than once during the debate, said America had an addiction to debt, sucking at the government teat.

“We need to pull that little piglet off that mama sow and let the squealing begin,” Addison declared at one point in the debate, telling the audience he was eager to abolish at least 10 federal agencies that he considered unconstitutional.

By Kimberly Reeves