Hammer, Strike Thyself

The smart guys at Congressional Quarterly, never ones to miss salt being rubbed into a politician's wound, predict that Republicans will lose Tom DeLay's House seat.

The Texas Republican Party establishment has rallied around a single
candidate, Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, in their
unusual write-in campaign to salvage the 22nd Congressional District
seat vacated in June by Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader. But the extreme rarity of successful write-in campaigns for Congress
and the presence of a solid Democratic nominee on the ballot in former
Rep. Nick Lampson has prompted CQPolitics.com to change its rating on
the 22nd District race to Leans Democratic from No Clear Favorite.

This is crushing news for a GOP that can only afford losing 14 seats before it loses the House. But perhaps it's good for the mental health of the Democratic party. Not since the Republican shellackings of the Kennedy-Johnson era (1960, 1962, 1964) has a party suffered as many consecutive, no-upside losses as the modern Democrats. But on election night 2006, they're increasingly likely to see concession speeches from 2000 arch-foe Katherine Harris and 2004 arch-foe Ken Blackwell alongside the humiliation of their enemy from-time-immemorial, Thomas Dale DeLay. All three events can unfold without power actually transferring from the GOP, but a meltdown trifecta like this will go far in healing the wounds that ripped Americans apart and inspired terrible David Brooks articles back in 2000.

Comments

[crimethink]

Whatever happens, you can be sure joe will turn up here the next day to declare it a Democratic victory...

[JVLaB]

Here's more excerpted from Mr. Giroux's post on cqpolitics.com:

"In addition, the potential non-Democratic vote could be split, as the Libertarian Party nominee Bob Smither presents a much easier option for voters who are unfamiliar with the write-in effort or do not want to vote for Sekula-Gibbs. Smither has said that, if elected, he would organizationally align with the Republicans and back the re-election of Illinois Republican J. Dennis Hastert as Speaker.

Smither may present a more viable choice in his own right than most alternative party candidates. He has drawn attention and praise locally for his efforts on behalf of missing children: He co-founded the Laura Recovery Center ? an organization based in his hometown of Friendswood, Texas, that aids in the search for and return of missing children ? that is named in tribute to Smither?s daughter Laura, who was abducted and killed in 1997 at the age of 12."

[JVLaB]

Here's more excerpted from Mr. Giroux's post on cqpolitics.com:

"In addition, the potential non-Democratic vote could be split, as the Libertarian Party nominee Bob Smither presents a much easier option for voters who are unfamiliar with the write-in effort or do not want to vote for Sekula-Gibbs. Smither has said that, if elected, he would organizationally align with the Republicans and back the re-election of Illinois Republican J. Dennis Hastert as Speaker.

Smither may present a more viable choice in his own right than most alternative party candidates. He has drawn attention and praise locally for his efforts on behalf of missing children: He co-founded the Laura Recovery Center ? an organization based in his hometown of Friendswood, Texas, that aids in the search for and return of missing children ? that is named in tribute to Smither?s daughter Laura, who was abducted and killed in 1997 at the age of 12."

[joshua corning]

you can donate to Smither's campaign