He couldn't, Jim. You have to switch parties three months before an election, I think it is, by law.
Key Question: Does this election have a runoff?
Is there a danger splitting as an Indie would lead to a Democrat winning, ie by splitting the vote??? That's the only legitimiate reason for Campbell to be pulling such a low stunt.
Since this is a special election, Gilchrist could deflect this effort by promising to vote to support the Republicans and seek GOP nomination, etc., in upcoming elections, should he win the election. (Actually checking the website, he's pretty much said that he's a 'Reagan Republican').
I found this blurb on Gilchrist's website ironic:
"Minuteman’ Jim Gilchrist, the only Independent Candidate running in the Oct. 4 election for California’s 48th Congressional District, will address the National Convention for the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA) on Saturday, September 3, 2005 at 3:25 p.m., in the Convention Center at the Chaparral Suites Hotel. Mr. Gilchrist will be speaking as the only candidate in the California race who truly espouses the principles of the Republican Party, and who has a proven record of uncompromised action advancing the policies and priorities of the Reagan Republican Platform."
The NFRA bills itself as a "Republican wing of the Republican party" ... so what we have here is a wimp-Republican trying to run off a self-styled Reagan Republican. A big mess, that Gilchrist could have avoided by simply being a Republican sooner.