Special Election in TX-22?

DavidNYC at SwingStateProject has an interesting take on the possibilities.

Fortunately, Texas law recognizes that not all vacancies are created equal. The governor may choose whether or not to call a special election - holding one is not mandatory. Gov. Rick Perry must now exercise his discretion wisely and refuse to squander taxpayers' dollars on such a wasteful exercise. To do otherwise would be to blatantly serve the naked partisan purpose of forcing Nick Lampson, the Democrat, through two elections - and possibly three, since a special might require a run-off - in just a few months time.

Of course, I'm not naive - Perry will do whatever his Republican overlords tell him to do. Therefore, if he does call a special election, I think all Democrats - including Lampson - should boycott it completely. Don't run in it, don't vote in it, don't even talk about it. If the TX GOP wants to waste time and money on a special election, then we shouldn't accord the "winner" any legitimacy whatsoever. The real election - as it has been all along - is still in November, regardless of what the Texas Republicans try to do.

Not so sure Perry will hand over the ammunition.

Bell already gets a boost to his "ethics" profile as the one who started the ball rolling on Delay. (BTW, if you didn't catch Chris on the Ed Schultz Show yesterday, the campaign site has a podcast available. Good times.)

And whatever the party, the redistricting fight made it clear the Repubs would do anything to win. Up to and including ignoring vital issues to the state like education finance reform (How many special sessions on this question are we at now?) and gutting the Tx Congressional delegation of it's seniority. Another Delay-Craddick-Perry gift to the citizens of Texas.

If Perry does call for this special ed election, he strengthens One-Many-Surnamed Grandma's position as the "independent" conservative candidate as well as brings Bell's ethics plank into even stronger focus (if the campaign plays it right.)

I think she's the only candidate Perry's really afraid of (the cordial mutual loathing doesn't hurt either), and I'm not sure he'll eagerly load the guns that could shoot his ambitions dead.

But we shall see...

X-posted at Come And Take It and We Are the Resistance.

Interesting Doings in the District Next Door

Reported at BOR and DailyKos among others:

Chris Matthews just came onto Scarborough Country over the phone to report that Rep. Tom Delay will be announcing tomorrow that he is not going to run for re-election in his Congressional District.

See, go out for a pancake dinner and you miss all manner of big doings. But mmmmmm, pancakes...

Who will poor Lamar follow around like a puppy now?

Not sure what this will mean for the Smith/Courage race, but I'm guessing it's going to come up in conversation...

Also, just ran across a spiffy new blog run by Precinct 326. I'll be adding them to the blogroll, but in the meantime, go pay them a little visit. It's great to see the technology of the internets used to get the Democratic message out.

Kudos to Precinct 326 Chair Bill Morrow.