There’s an urban legend that Lyndon B. Johnson spread a rumor about his opponent having had an indecent experience with pigs. When a campaign aide told him they couldn’t say that because it was not true, Johnson — a Democrat who repped Texas in Congress for 23 years before ascending to the executive branch — supposedly said, “Of course it ain’t true, but I want to make the son-of-a-b**** deny it.”
Half a century later, Texas Senate races look no less nasty, and it might cost Democrats their chance to win the majority.
