January 05, 2006
Stockman story

The Chron covers Steve Stockman's entry into the more-crowded-than-I'd-thought CD22 field.


Stockman and [Nick] Lampson are among eight candidates trying to unseat DeLay.

The embattled former house majority leader, under state indictment alleging campaign finance improprieties, has three opponents in the March 7 GOP primary — political activist and former teacher Pat Baig and lawyers Tom Campbell and Michael Fjetland.

Libertarians Stan Norred and Bob Smither will seek that party's nomination at a June convention.

Stockman and Gabriel P. Owens filed as independents.

To get on the ballot for Congress, Stockman and Owens will have to collect 500 petition signatures each from registered voters who do not participate in this year's Democratic or Republican primaries.


So the November ballot could have DeLay, Lampson, Stockman, Owens, and a Libertarian. That's quite a large field. It's a different dynamic from the Governor's race in that I expect the three extras to garner at most about 2% each, but that may be enough to affect the outcome, and I could be underestimating Stockman. It's hard to say if any of these guys will draw votes away from one candidate or the other, or if they'll just get the usual collection of people who don't like voting for a major party. It's possible, maybe even likely, that Stockman will provide a safe alternative for strong conservative voters who are unahppy with DeLay, but I don't know how many of those there are. If he raises enough money to do some mailings, he could have an effect. We'll see.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on January 05, 2006 to Election 2006 | TrackBack
Comments

To get on the ballot for Congress, Stockman and Owens will have to collect 500 petition signatures each from registered voters who do not participate in this year's Democratic or Republican primaries.

Interesting the bar is so much lower for independents running for Congress than for Governor. A roughly equivalent requirement for independent candidates for Governor would be 500*32=16,000 signatures - about a third of the actual requirement, and much more reasonable, considering the petition signer-pool-shrinking requirement of "registered voters who do not participate in this year's Democratic or Republican primaries."

Posted by: Mathwiz on January 6, 2006 2:11 PM

I wonder if Gabriel P. Owens is related to "Tom Owens" who put up anti-gay billboards and the website: http://www.liberallampson.com/ ??

Posted by: Joe C on January 11, 2006 7:51 PM

This may be a shrewd move by Stockman. If Delay gets politically damaged post primary but before the general elections, it could be a Lampson-Stockman race. Could save the seat for the conservative-republicans. Looks like a good hedge move for the republicans. This is probably Stockman's overall best chance of regaining a seat in Congress. And, Stockman has had ten years to hone his political skills and demeanor....he may appear more senatorial than maverick this time around.

Posted by: quiet observer on January 27, 2006 4:45 PM