Voters around Texas have consistently said that they don't want Chris Bell serving in any public office. His response? Take a page from the Barack Obama handbook and seek to kick the only other Democrat candidate off the ballot in his state senate race so that the district's Democrats don't have any other choice!

Democrat Chris Bell filed suit in state district court Thursday, seeking to remove an opponent from the ballot in the Nov. 4 special election for the District 17 state Senate seat.

Bell's campaign contends that Stephanie E. Simmons, an attorney from Missouri City who filed as a Democrat just before the filing period ended on Friday, is a "phantom" candidate planted by Republicans seeking to siphon Democratic votes from Bell.

Bell's best chance of winning the seat, previously held by Republican Kyle Janek, is to win outright on Nov. 4. Until Simmons filed, he was the only Democrat in the race.

And he need Simmons off the ballot, because his only real chance of winning is to somehow eke out 50% of the vote on election day. Otherwise he is in a runoff with a Republican, and ANY Republican will beat him in such a runoff. After all, he currently has only 34% of the vote according to polling data his campaign cites -- and removing Simmons will boost him a few points. Add in a high turnout on election day (which he hopes will favor Obama and the Democrats), and he might be able to scratch his way to 50% plus 1, but only if Democrats have no other alternative. In a runoff, though, united Republicans will get a solid 60% in this district, given that Bell's presumed flood of Obama voters won't turn out for a squirrelly white guy already rejected by Democrat primary voters for Congress and the general populace of the state of Texas in the 2006 gubernatorial race.

I've got a great idea for a bumper sticker for the Bell campaign:

Chris Bell
Pro-Choice On Abortion
No Choice On Election Day

Posted by: Greg at 10:45 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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