Tom Delay to Step Aside for Write In Candidate
By Dyre42 | Related entries in Elections, General Politics, In The NewsDeLay to Make Way for Write-In Candidate
By SUZANNE GAMBOA
The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 8, 2006; 2:25 PMWASHINGTON — Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay intends to withdraw as a candidate for Congress, a Republican strategist said Tuesday, a step that would allow the party to field a write-in candidate in hopes of holding his seat.
The development came one day after Texas Republicans lost a court battle in their bid to replace DeLay on the November ballot.
There will be no Republican candidate to face Democrat Nick Lampson, a former House member.
Texas Republicans on Monday abandoned their court fight to replace DeLay on the November ballot after being turned back at the Supreme Court.
The decision came after Justice Antonin Scalia rejected Texas Republicans’ request to block an appeals court ruling saying DeLay’s name should remain on the ballot.
More.
While this will result in a victory for the Dems., it will also be a loss for Delay’s former constituents who will be left without a viable Republican candidate. In a state where straight party ticket voting is the norm the odds of a write in candidate ever winning are extremely small. And while I believe that America would be better off without Delay in office I also believe that democracy would have been better served had the twenty second district been allowed a real choice of candidates.
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August 8th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
I do not understand your comment. Texas is Republican by @ 60% to 40 % for democrats. If as you say, “straight party ticket voting is the norm”, I would believe that under this premise the odds of any republican candidate is pretty good especially in a highly republican district.
August 8th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
The Republican write in candidate’s name won’t be on the ballot. So when voting rather than just going to the first screen and checking one box to vote all Republican voters would have to request a write in candidate form prior to voting.
August 8th, 2006 at 9:04 pm
“Why so difficult?!?!?”
-Farscape, I-Yensch, You-Yensch
Oh, come on. Texas’s public schools may have a bad rep, but that does not make Texans total illiterates. They can at least write somebody’s name. And if they can’t be bothered to even do that? Then they don’t deserve to live in a democracy.
August 8th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
Democracy would’ve been better served without Delay’s smelly politics. I say good riddance, and I’m gonna enjoy the comeuppance. Where’s a picture of that $hit-eating-grin when you need it?
August 9th, 2006 at 2:49 am
Simply put the write in candidate can’t count on the same number of votes that a republican candidate that’s actually on the ballot will receive.
Do you think a person who’s voted straight partly ticket all of their life actually knows what the process that’s normally reserved for third party candidates is?
August 9th, 2006 at 11:11 am
Well, if Delay had stepped aside earlier, wouldn’t there have been a real choice of candidates?
Everything that happened was perfectly legal and perfectly within the rights of the Democratic Party to do. Let’s place the blame where it belongs for a change.
August 9th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
Good riddance to a rotten snake. I hope the democrat wins, it makes it even more likely we’ll take back the House, as this was almost certainly a seat that wasn’t expected to change hands.
August 9th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
New Article: Texas Republicans plan to vote for Delay, despite his intention not to run
August 9th, 2006 at 7:50 pm
Shed no tears for the GOP in CD 22 70% of them voted for Delay in March! I wonder if they knew they were contributing to Delay’s legal defense fund!
August 12th, 2006 at 3:28 am
“Well, if Delay had stepped aside earlier, wouldn’t there have been a real choice of candidates?
Everything that happened was perfectly legal and perfectly within the rights of the Democratic Party to do. Let’s place the blame where it belongs for a change. ”
Delay wasn’t legally allowed to step aside. He was forced to continue to be in the race by multiple court orders. I loathe Delay. But I’d rather his former constituents actually have a legitimate Republican candidate to vote for rather than the Dem’s run unapposed in his district due to a technicality.
I don’t care if their chosen republican candidate is Big Bird. Delay should have been allowed to withdraw and candidates from both parties should ha ve been allowed to debate the issues and the residents of that district should have been allowed to vote for the candidate that best represented their interests.
August 12th, 2006 at 11:07 pm
Dyre42… I think Meredith was suggesting (and if she wasn’t, then I’m going to suggest it myself) that DeLay could have stepped aside *before the primary.* It’s not as if his legal troubles suddenly materialized after March. In fact, it’s far more likely that he intended all along to win the primary, then step down, with the express intent of getting to hand-pick his replacement. That fails to serve the notion of voter choice just as much as the current scenario. As far as I’m concerned, this is nothing more than DeLay’s no-holds-barred politics coming back to bite him.