The Unofficial Fort Bend Survey is out

Remember that survey by mail of Fort Bend County that was intended to take an unofficial pulse of who the Chosen One for CD22 should be? Well, the unofficial results are in, and unintentional humor is following quickly on its heels.

The Fort Bend County Republican Party released complete results Saturday from the highly publicized mail-in congressional candidates survey sent out in April by former party chairman Eric Thode.

"The survey was conducted in an effort to survey voter opinion on which the majority of Fort Bend County Congressional District 22 voters would like to see as a replacement to Congressman DeLay on the November general election ballot," the party said in a prepared statement.

As reported Friday morning, several precinct chairs attempted at a Thursday night party meeting to have the poll results shredded, or locked up. Ultimately, the county Republican Party Executive Committee directed party Chairman Gary Gillen to include a disclaimer along with the poll results.

"This survey was conducted early in the process of selecting a nominee. Many candidates, whose names appear on this survey, are no longer candidates for the nomination for Congressional District 22," the disclaimer states. "Many other candidates have come forward since this survey process was initiated, and did not appear on the survey; therefore the results of this survey are inconclusive."

You can just smell the embarassment from here, can't you? Wait, it gets better.

As also reported Friday, the three candidates receiving the most votes were Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace, state Rep. Charlie Howard and DeLay primary opponent Tom Campbell. Next came Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, Judge John Devine and state Sen. Mike Jackson (see chart at right for complete survey results).

Among write-in candidates named in the survey was DeLay, his wife, Christine, and Democratic CD-22 candidate Nick Lampson. Lampson got five votes to three for Christine DeLay and just two for Tom DeLay.

Yes, Nick Lampson got as many write-in votes as Tom and Christine DeLay combined. (It could have been worse for the FBGOP, too.) And David Wallace, who's having a hard time making it to candidate forums, is the leader. All this for a 6% return rate and $10 per response.

Juanita has more. To think, DeLay hasn't even resigned yet, much less been declared ineligible for the ballot. The fun is just beginning.

UPDATE: The Muse adds on.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 21, 2006 to Election 2006 | TrackBack