Bob Dunn in Fort Bend Now reports that Harris County Judge Bob Eckels will not run for Tom DeLay's seat in Congressional District 22. From the article:
Republican Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said he’s conducted polling that shows he can beat Democrat Nick Lampson by more than 15 points in the race for resigning Congressman Tom DeLay’s seat.
Eckels said his polling showed he would receive “more than 50%” of the vote in a general election against Lampson, with Lampson receiving 35%.
That leads him to believe “it’s our race to win,” and other strong Republican candidates can beat Lampson as well. “If our folks come out” to vote, “we win,” he added.
“The truth is, like Tom DeLay, Judge Eckels realized this would be a very difficult race,” said Lampson campaign manager Mike Malaise. “You’re going to see more and more of these stories suggesting Nick Lampson will be extremely difficult to beat in November.”
Malaise also said Lampson will have “more than $3 million raised by the time another candidate enters the race…”
With Eckels out of the picture, the chances for already-announced candidates for DeLay’s seat, such as state Rep. Charlie Howard, Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace and Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs grow stronger.
Eckels also mentioned state Sen. Mike Jackson of Galveston, state Rep. Robert Talton of Pasadena and Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt as potential candidates.
Eckels gave serious consideration to running for DeLay’s seat in Congress, and had been meeting with precinct chairman in Harris, Fort Bend, Brazoria and Galveston counties in recent days. And, he said, he appreciated the support he was getting, but he won’t run.
“I was just in Washington the other day,” Eckels said. “I think I have to go to Washington every few months just to remind myself how much I don’t want to work there.” The interesting thing to remember is that DeLay has not officially resigned yet. I will say this again. DeLay still lives only a few miles away from me in Sugar Land. He is not out of the race in November until he moves to Virginia and that hasn't happened yet. While we watch the Republicans maneuvering around and not knowing who to throw their dollars at for the November election, Lampson volunteers are on the ground this weekend for yet another round of blockwalking all over TX-22.
3 comments:
DeLay will have to resign soon because he has a new job. The other day I received a newsletter in the mail which stated that Pecos Bill Junior College in far West Texas had recently named him as its new mascot. They had earlier considered both Buster the Bunny and SpongeBob SquarePants but had to reject them because they've recently been targets of conservative critics.
OK, it's confession time. The newsletter is quite real but is a satirical piece from the somewhat demented mind of an English professor at Austin Community College. PBJC, on the other hand, is fictional. Would that its new mascot were as well!
DeLay will have to resign soon because he has a new job. The other day I received a newsletter in the mail which stated that Pecos Bill Junior College in far West Texas had recently named him as its new mascot. They had earlier considered both Buster the Bunny and SpongeBob SquarePants but had to reject them because they've recently been targets of conservative critics.
OK, it's confession time. The newsletter is quite real but is a satirical piece from the somewhat demented mind of an English professor at Austin Community College. PBJC, on the other hand, is fictional. Would that its new mascot were as well!
Oh. My. Goodness. It has been a LONG time since I have heard about Pecos Bill Jr. College, but I have fond memories of the place and of the English professor who spawned the newsletter.
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