Have you been missing Houston’s favorite bicyclist Bob Stein as much as we have? He’s been pretty scarce lately, at least in local media stories. Thankfully, the Christian Science Monitor called up Houston’s expert-on-almost-everything for his take on the CD 22 race:
Political scientists believe political jockeying has already begun – since there are four counties, and it takes a majority vote to put a candidate on the ballot.
“There is great concern that the seat could be lost to a Democrat,” says Bob Stein, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston.
Great concern?
Yet District 22 is heavily Republican, and a Democratic win is a long shot – even for the well-financed and well-known former Congressman Nick Lampson, say political scientists.
But voters here have become disillusioned with DeLay. Jim Mills, a “recovering DeLay supporter,” doesn’t know who he will vote for in November, but says Mr. Lampson is not a choice. Mr. Mills will wait to see who the GOP chooses.
Maybe not so much.
In addition, this month the US Supreme Court will rule on Texas redistricting, an effort spearheaded by DeLay that redrew congressional districts in Texas to favor Republicans.
If portions of the plan are found to be unconstitutional, the result could mean an all-comers race in DeLay’s district. That would work to Lampson’s advantage, says Stein, because of the large number of Republicans who are interested in the seat.
Hope springs eternal!
(As a side note, which local entity do you think will miss Tom DeLay the most? Even the Chron‘s editorial board figured that one out!)
