HIDALGO — “Do you think you are going to win this race?”

The day before the official Texas primary, that’s all anyone wanted to hear from candidates and their representatives.

Rep. Aaron Peña, one of a handful of candidates to show up for a last-minute debate at Dodge Arena Monday morning, asked the question of the empty chair beside him reserved for his no-show opponent Eddie Saenz.

The debate, organized by local newman Ron Whitlock, was a somewhat disastrous slow starter. By noon, two hours after their scheduled start, two representative candidates and two challengers for Willacy County DA had filtered in and the moderators were chatting live with Peña, but throughout the ice-cold arena, a PA system problem kept any onlookers from hearing the Great Debate.

Whitlock himself showed up at 11:15 or so, offering no explanation for his tardiness and chugging a SlimFast.

Most of the candidates were far away — a few were almost certainly across town with Bill Clinton.

Outside the Dodge, things were more interesting, as teams struggled to take down BorderFest in high winds. Check themonitor.com a little later today for a short video, “The day after.”

I’d direct you to ronwhitlock.com to check in on proceedings, but apparently they’re having technical difficulties with the webcast

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