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The National Democratic Party has spent $50,000 promoting a nominal Republican write-in candidate to succeed former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a move the more prominent GOP campaign called a "desperate" effort to split the write-in vote. The mailout on behalf of write-in candidate Don Richardson describes positions potentially appealing to conservatives who, according to a recent Chronicle-11 News poll, make up at least 55 percent of the district's population. "Don Richardson supports President Bush's Patriot Act," the mailer says. "Do you?" It also says he would put troops on the border to stop illegal immigration, allow law enforcement officials...

On Monday President Bush flies into Houston to campaign for a congressional candidate who — at one point — looked like a long shot. But an exclusive poll indicates that Shelley Sekula-Gibbs may pull off a political upset and win her write-in campaign for Congress.

All four candidates, one GOP, one Dem and two Indys will be holding the only debate for Texas Governor tonight at 7:00 p.m. Central time. Gee, I wonder whose influence had this debate scheduled during Friday night football?

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The state’s highest criminal appeals court said Wednesday it would consider reinstating a conspiracy charge against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, further delaying his felony money laundering trial. A Travis County grand jury indicted DeLay and two political consultants last year on charges stemming from Republican fundraising during the 2002 legislative races. A state district court judge later threw out one of two conspiracy charges. Prosecutors asked the appeals court to reinstate the dropped charge, and the court said Wednesday that it would consider that request. Judge Pat Priest said he would proceed with DeLay’s...

<p>HOUSTON (AP) - Five people filed the necessary paperwork by Friday's afternoon deadline to run in the special election to temporarily fill the seat vacated by former House Majority leader Tom DeLay, according to the secretary of state's Office.</p> <p>Gov. Rick Perry this week ordered the Nov. 7 special election to temporarily replace DeLay, who resigned in June although his term doesn't expire until January. The general election is also on Nov. 7.</p>

SUGAR LAND — Mayor David Wallace will not run as a write-in Republican candidate for the congressional seat vacated by Tom DeLay. Wallace announced his decision about the Congressional District 22 race today at a news conference at Sugar Land City Hall. The decision comes after Republican party leaders from Fort Bend, Harris, Galveston and Brazoria counties selected Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs as the party's choice to run in the November election as a write-in candidate. No Republican will appear on the ballot because DeLay stepped down after winning the nomination in March. A court ruled the party could...

PEARLAND, Texas — Republican agreed Thursday to support a Houston city councilwoman as the write-in candidate on the November ballot in place of former House Majority leader Tom DeLay, who resigned from Congress in June amid allegations of money laundering. The Texas Republican Party decided it should rally behind one write-in candidate after a federal appeals court ruled Delay, who won the March Republican primary election, must remain on the ballot. "I'm honored to have received this support," Sekula-Gibbs said. In addition to Sekula-Gibbs, write-in candidates vying for the GOP's support included David Wallace, mayor of Sugar Land, and Houston...

Dear friend: Do you want to see a Libertarian in Congress? Of course you do. And thanks to Tom DeLay, the Libertarian Party may have its best chance ever. A surprise opportunity has offered itself recently, and we need to exploit it. A federal judge has ruled that Tom DeLay’s name can not be replaced on November’s ballot with another Republican politician. Late last week, DeLay announced that he will withdraw his name, leaving only two candidates on the ballot: a liberal Democratic former congressman, and Libertarian Bob Smither. Bob is well known by the voters and media in this...

Sugar Land's Republican mayor on Friday became the first person to file as a write-in candidate on the ballot for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who resigned from Congress in June amid allegations of money laundering. DeLay tried to render himself ineligible for the race by moving to Virginia so that another Republican could replace him on the ballot for the suburban Houston seat. But a federal appeals court ruled last week that DeLay, who won the March Republican primary election, is still eligible and must remain on the Nov. 7 ballot, leaving state Republicans to organize behind a...

Write-in candidate names are not on the ballot by design. To cast a vote for one on the electronic eSlate machines, which don't have a keyboard, you'll have to use the "select" dial to choose "write-in." Even then, the names won't automatically pop up, said Scott Haywood, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office. In each booth there will be a printed list of candidates who have been certified for the Congressional District 22 race. Using the dial and a picture of a keyboard on the screen, the voter will click the letters of the name they want. Potential...

Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace will be a write-in candidate for the seat House Majority Leader Tom DeLay abandoned, according to a member of Wallace's campaign team. Wallace made the decision after DeLay announced Tuesday that he would withdraw his name from the November ballot, leaving the Republican slot blank and opening up the race to a GOP write-in candidate. The state Republican Party lost its legal battle to replace DeLay with another candidate of its choosing earlier this week. Anyone can run as a write-in candidate. But the state Republican Party says it will back a single campaign. "Republicans...

Texas Republicans on Monday abandoned their court fight to replace former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on the November ballot after being turned back at the Supreme Court. The decision came after Justice Antonin Scalia rejected Texas Republicans' request to block an appeals court ruling saying DeLay's name should remain on the ballot. "I think all our legal avenues are exhausted in terms of affecting the ruling prior to the election," said Jim Bopp Jr., the attorney who argued the Republican Party's case to allow party officials to substitute another candidate for DeLay. Under indictment on money laundering charges in...

Texas Republicans asked Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Monday to block an appeals court ruling that says the name of indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay must appear on the November ballot. Democrats are suing to keep DeLay on the ballot, with the former lawmaker's legal troubles becoming a symbol for claims of Republican corruption. DeLay won a March primary before resigning June 9 from Congress. Texas Republican Party chairwoman Tina Benkiser requested a delay of the appeals court ruling until Republicans can formally ask the Supreme Court to review the case. The request was filed with Scalia...

NEW ORLEANS - A federal appeals court refused Thursday to let Texas Republicans replace Tom DeLay on the November congressional ballot. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, who said in July that DeLay's name had to stay on the ballot even though he quit Congress and moved to Virginia.

A federal appeals court just affirmed a lower court's ruling that the state GOP had no grounds to remove DeLay from the ballot. The court held that, at the time DeLay was taken off the candidate slate, there was no firm evidence he had moved to Virginia and no conclusive evidence that he intended to live in VA on Election Day. Former Rep. Nick Lampson is the Democratic nominee.

Texas attorney general to intervene in DeLay ballot question Democrats complain that state's lawyer doing the GOP's bidding in federal case. By Laylan Copelin AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, July 20, 2006 The political theater surrounding the future of Tom DeLay, the Democratic Party's favorite fundraising tool, got a new character Wednesday: Attorney General Gregg Abbott. The state's top lawyer is intervening in the legal battle over whether the GOP can replace the Sugar Land Republican on the ballot. The former House majority leader retired from Congress in June and moved to his Virginia condo after winning the GOP nomination three months...

WASHINGTON (ap) _ Republicans are howling over a Democratic political Web site ad that displays flag-draped coffins and a fake police mug shot of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, arguing that the ad politicizes war casualties and is an insult to the families of the troops killed in Iraq. The 75-second ad by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee begins with a somber musical score and images of war, high gas prices, the coffins, pollution, breached levees, followed by pictures of Texas Republican DeLay, disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. "Washington Republicans have sold...

AUSTIN — Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is suing to keep secret the details about his investigation of indicted former House majority leader Tom DeLay. The Houston Chronicle filed a request under Texas' open records law in March seeking vouchers, hotel and airfare receipts, budget documents, memos and e-mails describing the expenses for the DeLay inquiry and related investigations. DeLay, indicted last year on conspiracy and money laundering charges connected to the financing of 2002 state legislative races, resigned from Congress on June 9. Earle, in his attempt to keep details of his investigation out of public view, appealed...

The President and First Lady spent the weekend at Camp David returning to the White House on Sunday. Today the President signed H.R. 5403, the Safe and Timely Interstate Placement of Foster Children Act of 2006 The Vice President had a busy Saturday. First he had a sucessful annual physical, then he and his wife Lynne along with their 3 grandaughters went to Kennedy Space Center for the launch of Discovery which unfortunately due to bad weather did not take-off. They then went to Daytona Beach for the Pepsi 400. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

by Mark Finkelstein June 28, 2006 Over the last couple days, I've received four emails from one liberal reader of these columns, repeatedly asking me why conservatives are so 'angry and mean-spirited'. I tried explaining that while anger is common to the human condition, in no way do conservatives have a monopoly on the emotion. To the contrary, I cited a recent study revealing that, even when controlling for relevant variables, Republicans tend to be happier than Democrats. Since I was unable to prove the proposition to the reader's satisfaction, I very much hope he was watching this evening's Hardball....