Did Beto O'Rourke, the vacuous Democratic prettyboy who almost beat Ted Cruz in the Texas Senate race give the latter a scare? Look, Ted Cruz is sporting a beard, and boy does it look good:

Image credit: ABC13 Houston, screengrab

Now that is stylin.' Here are some more views:

Image credit: C-SPAN2 screengrab

Image credit: The Schneider Show screengrab, taking a screengrab from The Cut

Talk about beating Beto at his own game. The latter came rather uncomfortably close to beating Cruz in the last midterm, 50.9%-48.3%, in the solid red state of Texas. O'Rourke didn't do that based on his ideas, given that those are basically socialist ones, but on his Kennedyesque tousled good looks, riding a skateboard, channeling ersatz Latinitude (ironically, against a real Latino), and exuding cool. For Democrats in the last 20 years, 'cool' has been what wins presidential elections for them. We all know who the king of cool is among Democrats: No-Drama Obama, and recall that Clinton/Gore in their salad days were once compared to linebackers.

The beard thing works exceptionally well on Cruz, probably better than the edgy tattoo image an appreciative fan created, given that it while it projects cool, it's not quite Cruz. Cruz's image problem has always been that he's the Harvard law grad nerd, the A-student, the captain of the debate team. Some stylist probably got to him, because we all know that Cruz doesn't care about this stuff. And yet ... the new beard exudes cool, and as an added bonus, is perfectly true to Cruz's identity. Better still, it neutralizes Beto and any future Beto looks tactics, because it looks so very good.

Don't think I am making this up. The press has been all over this issue. Start with the pop press: Just yesterday, I read on TheList (guilty pleasure) that men with Cruz's style of heavy stubble are considered the most attractive to women. Women, GOP problems, get it? Points for Cruz. There also are scientific studies showing that men with Cruz's beard are considered sexiest, here is a heavy-duty-looking scientific journal called Evolution and Human Behavior saying exactly the same thing. MedicalXPress, which is more middle-of-the-road, has it all mapped out for us with beard photos.

So to return to Cruz, yeah, the lefty hipster press is all over it, and given the left's way of winning elections, it's nice to see they're alarmed.

Here's my favorite piece (really good writing, by the way) a lefty at Slate crying uncle at Cruz's sheer awesomeness:

I have no particular fondness for this subject and it brings me no pleasure to cover it. But as a truth-seeking journalist, I feel I must write what follows: Sen. Ted Cruz’s new beard looks great.

The Texas Republican first appeared in public with traces of facial hair just after Thanksgiving. Back then, the beard was just a shadowy, patchy mess ...

That all changed this week, when Cruz showed up in the Senate with a filled-out salt-and-pepper beard, giving his face a defined jawline and its first-ever hints of ruggedness and affability. The bloated, downy visage of a college debate team showoff is gone. A slightly less insufferable mug has arrived.

When you have lefties crying about beards like that, you know the little cosmetic change has worked splendidly. Even the lefties are admitting it. Cry on, lefties, Democrats can't beat Ted on looks anymore, and now Democrats are now stuck trying to sell voters on ideas. Good luck with that, socialists.

Image credits: Screengrabs from ABC13 Houston, via YouTube, C-SPAN2, The Schneider Show, via YouTube