Well, I was wrong in my interpretation of the Libertarian Party press release, for as Chris Elam reports (and I've heard this independently, too), Bob Smither has filed for the CD22 special election. He joins Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, Don Richardson, a fellow named Giannibecego Hoa Tran, as you can see here (PDF), and will be the first non-Republican on the ballot.

But that's not all. I've got a tip that there's a fifth player in this game, and his name is none other than Steve Stockman. Yes, the man who failed to collect 500 valid signatures to be an independent for the regular election has decided to take a shot at the Very Special Election, where he can try his best to be once again a short-term, no-impact Congressman. One hopes he paid the filing fee this time.

So while Shelley Sekula-Gibbs won't get a shot at beating Nick Lampson, which maybe she could have done and maybe she couldn't, but she can at least prove that she's a bigger draw than Steve Stockman. If that doesn't scream "frontrunner" at you, I don't know what would. And as a bigger prize for her success, she'd get to resign her City Council seat. All I can say at this development is that somebody up there must love me.