What about Bob (Smither)?

I've noted that among the advantages Shelley Sekula-Gibbs will have over the usual write-in candidacy are higher than normal name recognition and news coverage of her race. Well, those factors apply to the Libertarian candidate, Bob Smither, as well.

[G]iven the exit of Republican Tom DeLay, a division within the local GOP rank-and-file about who to back in a write-in campaign and paired with a few endorsements from nationally recognized GOP members, Smither isn't the only one who likes his chances against Democrat Nick Lampson.

Last week, former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, best known for his participation as one of the prosecutors in the President Clinton impeachment proceedings, offered his endorsement of Smither.

Smither also received a nod from Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who cautioned that should it be determined a write-in campaign would likely not be successful against Lampson, conservative voters should give serious consideration to Smither's campaign.

"Republicans must focus solely on one issue. Does a write-in campaign have a chance of success?" Patterson said. "If the consensus is it does not, we should seriously consider supporting Bob Smither."

[...]

"Smither's great advantage is he is on the ballot," said University of Houston political science professor Richard Murray. "The problem is he has that Libertarian title."

Murray said when it comes to voting, despite regular outcries from the electorate of wanting more choices, Libertarians are still considered a fringe political movement.

"Even in the best of circumstances in a two-man race, a Libertarian candidate gets 12 percent to 15 percent of the (total) vote," said Murray. "He will pick up a faction that don't like Lampson or the Democrats, but outside of having that major party support, I don't see it happening.

"It should be Lampson's race to lose."

Smither countered this is an unusual race. He noted this with his recent announcement that if elected he would caucus with Republicans and would back a Republican speaker of the House, he has started to hear from a lot of diehard GOP backers who indicate they will support him.

Much of that support has come as Smither positions himself as "the only conservative candidate on the ballot."

I've long thought that Smither would be a major threat to the chances of any write-in candidate. The GOP is more unified now (at least publicly) than it has been during the process of finding somebody (anybody! except David Wallace, of course) that it can rally behind, so Smither's moment in the sun may be over. It'll be interesting to see how prominent he remains in the news coverage from here on out. Link via Easter Lemming.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on August 22, 2006 to Election 2006 | TrackBack