From the "How can we miss you if you won't go away?" files

Rhymes with Right is not happy with Tom DeLay's June 9 resignation date.

Why am I unhappy? Because the resignation will not take place before the Texas GOP convention on June 2-3 -- when I had hoped to see the party's new standard-bearer announced and given a rousing launch to his/her campaign. Instead, the formal selection process cannot even begin for a week after convention ends.

Assuming, of course, that the man doesn't dally about switching his residency and notifying the party here in Texas.

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I'll say it loud and clear -- I wish that Delay were leaving office TODAY, so we could hasten the process along. Actually, having been nominated, I wish he would have stuck it out no matter what the polls said on his reelection chances. Better yet, I wish he had not sought the nomination, since there is every indication that he had been seriously considering a withdrawal from the general election as early as the day he filed for reelection.

It is going to be a long month for me and the rest of the precinct chairs in CD22.

Key point to remember here is that DeLay's resignation does not do anything to disqualify him for the ballot in November. He still has to establish residency in Virginia, and even then there's likely to be a challenge to that by the Lampson campaign. Who knows when this could be settled? Note that if the Chosen One isn't selected by August 29, which is 70 days before the election, the whole Gang of Four process is moot - the State Republican Executive Committee gets to pick the nominee. You think there's grumbling about an opaque, antidemocratic process now, wait till that happens.

RwR is also understandably unhappy about Steve Stockman's likely presence on the ballot. If nothing else, the fact that Stockman has persisted in attempting to qualify for the election certainly kills the ridiculous notion that had once been floated that Stockman was running to help DeLay win. Like RwR, I think this is good news for Lampson.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 15, 2006 to Election 2006 | TrackBack