AMARILLO, Texas — A friend of mine told me today that she has seen something she thought she’d never see in Amarillo, Texas.

She saw a plethora of lawn signs for a progressive Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate. What’s even more interesting is the neighborhood where she saw them: the tony, leafy, high-end Wolflin Neighborhood, where a lot of old-money Republicans go home at night.

I thought I’d take a look for myself. She is right.

Beto O’Rourke is running for the Senate against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. O’Rourke, a young House member from way out yonder in the Trans-Pecos region, is challenging Cruz’s bid for a second term.

O’Rourke — who hails from El Paso — has been spending a lot of time conducting town hall meetings with constituents in neighborhoods where one doesn’t find politicians of his ilk.

The friend who told me of the signs in Wolflin is a former journalist. I trusted her assertion because she is known to tell the truth. Still, I wanted to see for myself.

I am not going to predict the lawn sign phenomenon will produce an upset in this year’s midterm election. I quit making such political predictions, given that I have been wrong far more than I am right.

But … Beto O’Rourke’s presence in the rock-ribbed Republican-loving Texas Panhandle suggests to me that he intends to cut his losses here and hope to secure his expected margins in the major metro urban areas where he figures to do well.

If the lawn signs are any indicator, then his strategy may be paying.

I hope that’s the case. However, my hope just cannot force me to predict it will happen. I’m left to squinting hard and firing good karma at the barnstorming challenger in the hope he can take down the Cruz Missile.