DISHONORABLE MENTION:

SHELLEY SEKULA-GIBBS


Well, it looks like Tom DeLay's former seat in Texas-22 will have one and only one write-in candidate come November to face Democrat Nick Lampson. After it looked like the local Republican apparatus was at its wits end after a series of court losses denying the party the right to simply name its own candidate after DeLay dropped out of the running after the primary earlier this year, it appeared as though several candidates would be vying for a write-in vote. Not so, at least, not anymore. The main challenger to the party's handpicked write-in candidate was Sugarland mayor David Wallace. Well, today he dropped out of the running to secure a write-in candidacy. Wallace was originally against Sekula-Gibbs and took a swipe at the process Monday (article here):

"In a session closed to the public, an alternative candidate received the endorsement of the Texas Republican Party by winning a straw poll of 83 precinct chairs that were allowed to vote for what was labeled ‘the Republican choice’ for the write-in candidate to replace Tom DeLay,” Wallace said.

Since that night, “I have received hundreds and hundreds of emails and phone calls” by “people who were not allowed to vote” at the Thursday meeting, and who “strongly encouraged me to continue to run,” Wallace said.

“Without exception, these callers and supporters questioned this made-up process and asked why 83 individuals could determine the ‘Republican choice’ candidate for over 33,000 Republican primary voters across the district,” he said. “Rather than unifying our party, it has only caused further fragmentation.”

Even with all that, Wallace still decided to pull out and I guess that I can't fault him. He saw the writing on the wall, and instead of splitting the party vote, he decided to do what was best even though he clearly isn't happy with how everything went down. As much as I was hoping for the Texas-22 GOP apparatus to continue to screw the pooch and hand the seat to Lampson, this write-in campaign is certainly not a sure bet and I look forward to seeing some Sekula-Gibbs/Lampson polling.

One other thing of note; on Thursday after Sekula-Gibbs [dear lord, but that is an annoying name to type!] won the precinct chairs' vote, she had this to say, "“It is my fervent hope that Mr. Wallace will look into his soul and decide it is in the best interest of the Republican Party to have one candidate.”

Huh. That sounds nice. Hey, wait a tick. Let me try something here:

"It is my fervent hope that Mr. LIEBERMAN will look into his soul and decide it is in the best interest of the DEMOCRATIC Party to have one candidate." Wow, sounds even better that way.