SAN ANTONIO – Whether voters consider it silly or serious, the Dallas Cowboys football team has made an unlikely entry into the Texas governor's race.
Republican Greg Abbott's team sent out a news release saying Democrat Wendy Davis loves the New England Patriots, highlighting a Facebook post where Davis wrote: "Go Pats."
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Davis's camp responded with two words: "Go Cowboys."
A news release even pointed to the fact that former Cowboys star Emmitt Smith donated $10,000 to a committee supporting her campaign.
Political Science Professor Dr. Henry Flores of St. Mary's University did not quite know what to make of this.
"I think they've reached the bottom of the silly barrel," Flores said. "Claiming that a senator from Fort Worth is not a Cowboys fan, I mean first of all it doesn't speak to any issues in the campaign."
Flores said the candidates may be trying to attract the attention of an audience now focused on football or using these salvos as a bridge to weightier issues.
"We are a football state and Cowboys are big in Texas, but I'm not sure something like that is going to turn an election," Flores said. "I think they're saving their serious ammunition for closer to election time."
At St. Mary's University many students are familiar with the election for governor this year.
And while they realize football is big on campus, they did not know it was big in the governor's race.
Eddie Paniagua, a St. Mary's junior majoring in history, said the candidates' loyalty to the Cowboys is not important to him.
"As a Cowboys fan I'm going to say no. To me that's not a hot topic for me as a voter," Paniagua said. "I think it's kind of childish a little bit. I think it's funny, maybe silly. I'm kind of more interested in what each candidate is bringing to the table, what they want to change in Texas."
Yesenia Castaneda is a St. Mary's senior and psychology major.
"We want someone that's going to be a good face for us, not, 'Oh who's your favorite team?'" Castaneda said. "Whether you're a Cowboys fan, 49ers, Patriots, all of the above, I want to know what you're going to do to make a change for us."
But Paniagua brought up another interesting question: What is the content of the candidates' fantasy football teams?
Politics, like football, is a contact sport.