"Frozen" (also called the "Ballad of Dannie Goeb") was a

political advertisement In politics, campaign advertising is the use of an advertising campaign through the media to Social influence, influence a political debate, and ultimately, voters. These ads are designed by political consulting, political consultants and polit ...

issued by incumbent

David Dewhurst David Henry Dewhurst (born August 18, 1945) is an American politician, businessman, and attorney who served as the 41st Lieutenant Governor of Texas, serving from 2003 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he was the Texas Land Commissioner ...

's campaign on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

during the 2014 primary runoff for

Lieutenant Governor of Texas The lieutenant governor of Texas is the second-highest executive office in the government of Texas, a state in the U.S. It is the second most powerful post in Texas government because its occupant controls the work of the Texas Senate and control ...

against

Dan Patrick Dan Patrick may refer to: * Dan Patrick (ice hockey) (born 1938), Canadian ice hockey player * Dan Patrick (politician) (born 1950), Lieutenant Governor of Texas and political and sports radio journalist * Dan Patrick (sportscaster) (born 1956), Ame ...

. Dewhurst, the three-term lieutenant governor, faced primary challenge from

Tea Party A tea party is a social gathering event held in the afternoon. For centuries, many societies have cherished drinking tea with a company at noon. Tea parties are considered for formal business meetings, social celebrations or just as an afternoon ...

favorite Dan Patrick. During the primary, Patrick triggered a runoff between Dewhurst and him by only capturing 41% of the vote. "Frozen" consisted of an edited version of Patrick, dressed like Elsa, singing a parody of "

Let It Go "Let It Go" is a song from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney's 2013 computer-animated feature film ''Frozen (2013 film), Frozen'', whose music and lyrics were composed by husband-and-wife songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert L ...

". The lyrics to the parody claim that Patrick changed his name to avoid past debits. Dan Patrick's campaign denied the allegations and release its own ''Frozen'' themed advertisement called DewFeed. DewFeed consisted of a webpage with

GIF The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF; or , see pronunciation) is a bitmap image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite and released on 15 June 1987. ...

s from ''Frozen'' with captions extolling Patrick's conservative virtues and attacking Dewhurst.

Background

Between 2003 and 2015,

served as the

42nd 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

. During his three terms as lieutenant governor, Dewhurst helped pass the controversial

2003 Texas redistricting The 2003 Texas redistricting refers to a controversial mid-decade state plan that defined new congressional districts. In the 2004 elections, this redistricting supported the Republicans taking a majority of Texas's House seats for the first ...

plan as well as "business friendly" legislation. In 2012, Dewhurst ran for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

and lost in a primary runoff to

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

. In 2014, Dewhurst, who was seen as an establishment Republican, faced a primary challenge against a

-backed candidate,

. In the 2014 Republican primary, Patrick triggered a runoff election by only gathering 41% of the vote; Dewhurst gathered 28% of the vote. During the weeks leading up to the runoff election, Dewhurst ran a negative campaign that included "Frozen" and " Lt. Gov. You've Gotta Love". Dewhurst failed to win the runoff-primary for a fourth term as lieutenant governor.

Synopsis

"Frozen" consists of a roughly animated version of Patrick lip-synching to a parody of "

". The lyrics to the parody centered around Dewhurst's challenger Dan Patrick. They claim that Patrick changed his name from Dannie Goeb to Dan Patrick to escape scrutiny of a bankruptcy. The first third of the advertisement depicts Patrick, dressed like Elsa, floating in a winter scene. In the second section, Patrick floats around a static image of the

Texas State Capitol The Texas State Capitol is the capitol and seat of government of the American state of Texas. Located in downtown Austin, Texas, the structure houses the offices and chambers of the Texas Legislature and of the Governor of Texas. Designed in 18 ...

. In the third section the music is played on top of stock footage of Patrick.

Reactions

Dewhurst's campaign

David Dewhurst personally did not find "Frozen" entertaining, but released it anyway at the prompting of his younger family members and campaign staff. Dewhurst commented that the advertisement "was not intended to be disrespectful" to Patrick. One Dewhurst staffer referred to "Frozen" as "just like a lighthearted thing."

Patrick's campaign

In response to the advertisement, Dan Patrick's campaign released a series of

s from ''Frozen'' on a site called DewFeed, a play off of

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...

. The Patrick campaign used this site to highlight a series of arguments about how he was a better candidate for lieutenant governor. One text and image combination tries to point out that Dewhurst was not concerned about security along the

Mexico–United States border The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traver ...

until Patrick brought it up in the Senate. In another, Patrick refers to Dewhurst as a "moderate without conservative footing". In addition to DewFeed, Patrick's campaign pointed out that the allegations that he changed his name to avoid past debit was false. Patrick originally used Dan Patrick when he was a sports broadcaster.

Sources

External links

*{{YouTube, title = Dan Patrick sings "The Ballad of Dannie Goeb" (Let It Go Parody), id = lPzz60a7As8 2014 in American politics 2014 in Texas 2014 works Frozen (franchise) Political campaign advertisements Politics of Texas Works based on films 2014 YouTube videos 2010s television commercials