Free Republic

The Democrats are chomping at the bit to reclaim Florida’s 22nd Congressional District seat, snatched from them in 2010 by Allen West, R-Plantation. Although they need someone with the mental agility to match West’s talent for thinking on his feet, they also want someone free of corruption and controversy. For example, they don’t need another Congressman Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar. While serving as a federal judge, a Hastings go-between accepted $25,000 as a down payment to a $150,000 bribe in exchange for a favorable ruling. Former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel claims to have the moxie to confront West. Unlike...

Accusations traded during only debate for 22nd District race Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson pleaded for bipartisanship and compromise, and Republican challenger Pete Olson delivered a withering criticism of Lampson's legislative votes Monday night in their only debate over a seat that has drawn the national spotlight. (snip) Monday night's campaign match-up was the only one Lampson agreed to attend with Olson before the Nov. 4 election.

President Bush is scheduled to stop in Houston to help raise money for Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson's opponent and the Republican Party's statewide campaign for the Nov. 4 election. Bush will be the featured guest at a July 18 fundraising luncheon at the River Oaks home of former energy pipeline executive Dan Tutcher, according to an invitation sent to potential donors.

Build a Republican campaign for Tom DeLay's old congressional seat and Dick Cheney will come. The vice president is scheduled to visit Houston billionaire Dan Duncan's home in River Oaks on Friday for a private, campaign fundraising event for congressional candidate Pete Olson of Sugar Land and the Texas Republican Party. Olson is running for the 22nd Congressional District seat held by Democrat Nick Lampson of Stafford. Cheney is no stranger to the local political turf. When DeLay was entangled in campaign ethics charges in late 2005, Cheney was the main attraction at a fundraising event in Houston for the...

Check out the "iVote" video on the page. Funny! Remember the guy that funded the Swift boat group? The guy from Texas? He has endorsed Brian Klock for Delay's old seat. The guys name is Bob Perry. One of the people that almost single handidly kept John Kerry out of office. Looks like there are still some conservative trying to get elected. Too bad klock does not have any money compared to some of the others.

Texan and super-conservative Bob Perry formally endorsed Brian Klock for the Texas Congressional seat in CD-22. A Republican candidate for the District 22 congressional seat will be getting a lot of attention today with a very unique campaign ad. klockforcongress.orgIt's yet to be seen just whether it's negative or in his favor. Now in the private sector, Brian Klock remains a commander in the US Navy Reserve. He's an underdog candidate trying to gain new ground. Later Monday, his campaign will unveil a billboard (pictured above) on the Southwest Freeway near Fountainview. It shows crosshairs trained on downtown Houston, it...

U.S. Rep-elect Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, was taken to the hospital this evening after eating dinner and complaining to his wife, Susan, that he wasn't feeling well, according to Lampson spokeswoman Carrie Chess. Lampson had not eaten all day and had not had a day off since the election last month, Chess said. He was preparing to start his vacation Friday. He walked into St. John Hospital in Clear Lake on his own and was taking routine tests to make sure he was OK, Chess said late tonight.

President Bush, his collar open and his sleeves rolled up, told 2,000 cheering Republicans in Sugar Land today that they should "bring your pencil" to the polls and write-in the name of Shelley Sekula-Gibbs to succeed Tom DeLay in the U.S. House. "I always feel better when I'm in Texas," Bush said to the crowd packed into a hangar at the Sugar Land airport, before urging them to take the extra steps necessary to vote for Sekula-Gibbs. Most voters won't really need a pencil to cast write-in votes because they'll use electronic voting machines. If they write in the councilwoman's...

Just hours after it became known that the accused killer of a Houston police officer was an illegal Mexican immigrant, top city officials braced themselves for another round of criticism of the city's policies toward illegal immigrants. Houston police officer Rodney Johnson was shot four times in the head during a traffic stop last week. Investigators say Juan Leonardo Quintero, a Mexican national living in the United States illegally has confessed to killing Johnson, a father of five. Quintero had been deported once and crossed the border illegally again. U.S. Rep John Culberson, R-Houston, reminded the public Monday of his...

<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>

A federal appeals court on Thursday refused to let Texas Republicans replace Tom DeLay's name 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. DeLay won a March primary before resigning from Congress on June 9. He is awaiting trial in Texas state court on money laundering and conspiracy charges alleging that illegal corporate cash helped pay for legislative campaigns in 2002.

Texas’ two major political parties both want a federal appeals court to quickly decide whether retired congressman Tom DeLay is or is not eligible to run again for the office from which he recently resigned. But filings with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals show lawyers for state Democrats don’t want the appeal to proceed quite as quickly as GOP lawyers do. It’s the latest development in an unlikely case that finds Texas Democrats fighting to keep longtime Sugar Land Republican congressman DeLay on the ballot, where he would face Democratic challenger Nick Lampson and Libertarian Bob Smither. The...

During a pitcher of beer at the Magnolia Creek Golf Links in League City the conversation quickly turned to local politics. In particular the talked centered on the ongoing saga involving Tom DeLay and his former congressional district. Last week, a federal judge ruled the former House majority leader’s name would have to remain on the ballot despite DeLay’s efforts to move out of the state and a declaration by the state Republican Party he was no longer eligible to remain the party’s nominee in November. It was a victory for Texas Democrats who sued the state Republican Party to...

Party is moving forward in process to select nominee despite unresolved lawsuit from Dems Despite a continuing legal dispute over the process, Harris County Republicans chose on Thursday their representative on the committee that will select a nominee to replace former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. "Why wouldn't we proceed if time is of the essence?" asked Harris County Republican Party Chair Jared Woodfill. "Given the fact that the election is approaching, it's important we do everything as quickly as possible within the confines of the law." A federal judge in Austin is still considering a Democratic effort to prohibit...

The on-again, off-again procedure to find a Republican ballot replacement for Tom DeLay is on again. At least for now. But it could be back off again as soon as Monday (more on that later). Texas GOP Chairman Tina Benkiser’s office sent out a statement this morning saying U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks has denied a request by the state Democratic Party to extend a temporary restraining order that essentially froze DeLay replacement candidates in their tracks. Benkiser faxed GOP chairs in Fort Bend, Harris, Brazoria and Galveston counties, asking that they schedule executive committee meetings quickly (more on that...

Steve Stockman won’t be running as an independent in the race for retired former congressman Tom DeLay’s District 22 seat. Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams ruled Thursday that although Stockman had gathered more than 600 signatures in petitions aimed at putting him on the ballot, fewer than the required 500 signatures were valid. Stockman is a one-term Republican congressman narrowly defeated by Democrat Nick Lampson in 1994. Lampson went on to serve three terms in Congress, then was defeated by Republican Ted Poe, a former judge from Harris County, after Lampson’s district was dramatically altered in a 2004 redistricting....

The political grass roots closest to the soil — precinct chairs — are enjoying some time in the sun because of their role in selecting a Republican congressional nominee to succeed Tom DeLay. Most of the time, precinct chairs labor anonymously in the unglamorous elective positions that typically are won uncontested if anyone seeks them at all. But for now, the precinct leaders have one of the hottest jobs in local politics. "We've been discovered," said Harris County precinct chair Kathy Haigler. "We are the lowest level of public officials that exist. We are the last ones on the ballot....

Democrats want to force the GOP to mount a write-in effort in November AUSTIN - A fight between the state Democratic and Republican parties over replacing Tom DeLay on the November ballot has moved to federal court. State Republicans filed papers Thursday to move from state to federal court a lawsuit filed last week by the Texas Democratic Party. The Democrats sued to block Republicans from picking a replacement for former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay on the ballot for the 22nd Congressional District. The Democrats are hoping to keep DeLay's name on the ballot against their nominee, Nick Lampson. Since...

The Texas Democratic Party on Thursday won a court order temporarily stopping the Texas Republican Party from replacing outgoing Rep. Tom DeLay on the November ballot. The Democrats sued the GOP in state court in Austin, arguing that Republican officials can't replace the Sugar Land Republican because he technically is still in the race. And if the courts agree that DeLay withdrew, party officials contend, state Republican officials couldn't select a replacement candidate to take on Democrat Nick Lampson in the fall. “The election would continue on — they just wouldn't have a dog in the hunt,” said Boyd Richie,...

Two days before he leaves Congress, he's officially out of race because he moved to Virginia Texas Republicans took a key official step Wednesday toward replacing U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay on the November ballot, as the state GOP declared him ineligible to run because he has moved his official residence to Virginia. Friday is the former House majority leader's last day in Congress. Republican Party of Texas Chairwoman Tina Benkiser notified Republican county chairs in the 22nd Congressional District that they can begin the process for selecting a new nominee. DeLay's successor as GOP nominee will be selected by a...