Tom Campbell: He Wants DeLay’s Seat

Texas Lawyer has a very lenghty piece up on Tom Campbell, the Houston attorney who ran against Tom DeLay in the March Primary.

Here is some of what Texas Lawyer noted concerning Campbell running a second campaign:

But mounting a second campaign presents its own logistical nightmare. DeLay’s April 3 announcement that he will resign from office and his withdrawal from the race could force Campbell to compete in two elections rather than one.

DeLay said he would resign in mid-June, which will trigger a special election to fill his unexpired term. Anyone, no matter his or her party affiliation, can run in this special election, which is subject to being scheduled by Gov. Rick Perry and could bestow the power of incumbency upon its winner — even if it’s just for a few months. Several prominent Republicans, including Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace and Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, have expressed interest in running. Former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, the Democratic nominee for the 22nd Congressional District, also said he would join the fray.

But in an April 6 press conference, Perry stated that unless he had DeLay’s resignation letter in hand by April 7, he was not inclined to call a special election until Nov. 7, the date of the general election. Although saving taxpayer dollars may have been a reason behind the governor’s decision, at least one Republican insider believes the governor was trying to avoid a Republican bloodbath.

“I think Perry was trying to minimize the chance that Republicans would have to slug it out and drain themselves of cash in a series of elections,” says Michael Stanley, Campbell’s campaign manager and sometime Harris County GOP legal counsel. “It also takes away some of the leg up that Lampson has in terms of money and organization, and gives the Republican candidates a chance to catch up.” Lampson has raised about $1.8 million.

That may account for the position of the Lampson campaign, which believes Perry’s decision is “just a stall tactic to enable DeLay to choose his successor,” says campaign spokesperson Carrie Chess. “It will also leave the district without representation for six months.”

Despite Perry’s statement, Campbell believes the special election issue is still in “a state of flux. . . . Just since the governor made his announcement, his office has been flooded with e-mails calling for a special election. There is a lot of pressure for him to change his mind,” Campbell says.

Whatever the outcome, Campbell must also focus on seeking the nomination of his party for the general election. That process can only commence after DeLay formally withdraws from the race by disqualifying himself — as he said he would — by changing his legal residence from Texas to Virginia. Texas law requires that the nomination be made by a committee of Republican precinct chairs — one selected from each of the four counties that comprise the 22nd Congressional District, which include parts of Harris, Galveston, Brazoria and Fort Bend counties. “It’s just a beauty contest to sell yourself to a select group of people,” Stanley says.

For some reason, I was thinking it was more than just one precinct chair from each of the four counties. If it is just the four, then it is much easier for DeLay to hand-pick a successor.

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