Just when you thought you've seen it all in the Republican lieutenant governor runoff.
The ongoing battle between David Dewhurst and Dan Patrick took a creative twist Wednesday -- and it's all inspired by Frozen, the hit Disney movie that features the hot song "Let It Go" and the Norwegian princess with icy powers.
First, the Dewhurst campaign posted a YouTube video that features Patrick lip-synching to a version of “Let It Go." Then Patrick unveiled a post on its DewFeed page, a site that resembles BuzzFeed, complete with animated Frozen GIFs.
No, we're not making this up.
The video
The video, “The Ballad of Dannie Goeb,” focuses on Patrick's name change and bankruptcy. (Patrick filed for personal bankruptcy in the 1980s, walking away from $800,000 in debt.) It features a shirtless Patrick covered in paint – film from decades ago.
Dewhurst, the lieutenant governor, faces Patrick, the state senator from Houston. Patrick leads in the polls.
Patrick was born Dannie Goeb, but began using Dan Patrick in the late 1970s as a sportscaster. He then legally changed his name in 2003. Patrick explains this on his website.
Earlier TV attack ads from Dewhurst claim that Patrick didn’t pay taxes, pocketed employees’ federal income tax withholdings and hid assets during a bankruptcy.
Politifact Texas has fact-checked an earlier claim from the Dewhurst campaign that Dan Patrick "’changed his name from Danny Goeb to hide from’ his ‘debts.’" Politifact Texas awarded the ad with its "pants on fire" label, declaring: "David Dewhurst lofts ridiculous unsupported claim about Dan Patrick legally changing his name to hide debts."
The Frozen animated GIFs
Patrick's campaign responded with this post on its DewFeed page, complete with animated GIFs:
Here's another excerpt:
What's going on?
Dewhurst sat down with KERA's Shelley Kofler earlier this week to talk about his campaign.
“All we’re doing is we’re quoting things he’s said, things he’s done, from newspapers, from TV shows,” Dewhurst told KERA in defense of the hard-hitting ads, which Patrick claims are filled with lies.
Patrick reminds us that Dewhurst also went through a bankruptcy in the 1980s. Patrick has said he learned from his mistakes and now has a successful broadcasting business. He’s blamed his old financial troubles on a tough economy and suggested it’s not relevant to pick on him for things that happened 30 years ago.
Patrick and Dewhurst faced off in a contentious debate in Dallas on Wednesday morning. Watch that here.
Or catch up on their debate from last Friday in Houston.
The runoff is May 27.
