Those Texas LP House Races...

Brian Doherty | November 7, 2006

Even as MS an M as the Washington Post is a Reliable Source when it comes to maverick politicos from the Libertarian Party: with 13 percent in, moneybags LP candidate Michael Badnarik is at 4 percent in district 10; while in district 22, where, because of the DeLay resignation kerfuffle, there is only Democrat Nick Lampson and Libertarian Bob Smither on the ballot, Smither is, with 11 percent of precincts reporting, pulling 6 percent--with GOP write in Shelley Sekula-Gibbs at 30 percent.

For reasons way too complicated to get into, there is a simultaneous special election going on today to fill DeLay's old seat merely until the winner in the real election today is sworn in in late January, in which Sekula-Gibbs is on the ballot (and Dem Lampson, to make it even more confusing, is not--so Smither is second place in that one). She's winning that handily.
There were flurries of talk in LP circles that Sekula-Gibbs might be reluctant to give up her Houston City Council seat, which she will have to do, just to be a congresswoman for 2 months. Her press representative Lisa Dimond assured me this evening that Sekula-Gibbs intends to take the seat, even if only for the two months.

Comments

|11.7.06 @ 10:49PM|#

From now on, I'm putting complete faith in polls. Who am I to think people are smarter than politicians give them credit for.

b psycho|11.7.06 @ 11:24PM|#

Goddamn, I woulda thought Smither would at LEAST get 20-25%! Is that (L) next to the name on the ballot THAT repulsive?

|11.7.06 @ 11:37PM|#

b,

apparently we're as bad to people as kryptonite, even if our ideas line up for the most part with theirs. But as we're not against same sex marraige or jubilantly for the drug war, we can't pander enough to base human fears to be anything other than marginalized.

I'd like to apologize to anyone I disagreed with about the results of this election. I had very misplaced hope. I assure you it won't happen again.

|11.7.06 @ 11:40PM|#

No, guys, it's just that the Hammer's old district is that crazy.

|11.7.06 @ 11:45PM|#

to be fair though, Smithers is polling better than pretty much every other libertarian out there.

oh well, atleast its over.

b psycho|11.7.06 @ 11:46PM|#

A Libertarian would basically have to lie to get elected:

"Uh, yeah, sure, I'm against gay marriage! Hell, I'm against gay existence! I strung up a fag last week, wanna see the corpse?"

Derrick|11.7.06 @ 11:58PM|#

Apparently, Badnarik blew his $500K on campaign office and staff, and had nothing left over for advertising. As far as I can tell, the only advertising he did was 3-4 billboards, a few radio ads, and standing by the side of the road holding signs. I think another part of the reason he did so poorly is that he is a classic hardcore radical LPer who spouts off ridiculous stuff about not paying income taxes and arming airline pilots. I think stuff like that makes him sound like a kook, and damages other Libertarian candidates as well.

I have a much higher opinion of Smither. He apparently has been a party activist for decades, working quietly behind the scenes to build the TX LP into the well-organized group it is today. He was merely a paper candidate when DeLay was forced out, and I believe was thrust into the spotlight very abruptly. He is a quiet, soft-spoken type who I believe was caught off guard by the abruptness of it all. I think he did very well under the circumstances, and I commend him.

|11.8.06 @ 12:42AM|#

Sekula-Gibbs lost the regular election. I assume she won the pointless special election since she had no Democratic opponent.

|11.8.06 @ 8:48AM|#

Look at TX CDs with "no name" Libertarian candidates. The norm is around 2%. Some as high as 3-4%. Badnarik's cash in my estimation bought him exactly 0 votes.

Hopefully no one will hire Hacker again and Badnarik goes back to teaching Boy Scouts how to sky dive and peddling his classes.

Robert Goodman|11.8.06 @ 12:22PM|#

Sekula's write-in trouncing of ballot-listed Smithers for 2nd place shows that ballot access isn't a big factor holding LP back.