Relying on Write-Ins May Cost DeLay Seat

CLEAR LAKE, Texas — At a campaign stop last week, congressional candidate Shelley Sekula-Gibbs asked a group of women who own businesses to vote for her twice in November: once in a special election to fill the unexpired term of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and again in the general election as the Republican write-in candidate running for the full two-year term.

The women, meeting for breakfast in a hotel banquet room, looked up from their scrambled eggs as Sekula-Gibbs launched into a jingle to drive home the point: "Vote twice for Shelley," she sang to the tune of "Roll Out the Barrel." "Special and then write her in."

The candidate motioned for them to join her in song, and most did, a few clapping in time. "It's corny, but corny is good," Sekula-Gibbs said.

As campaign appearances go, the early-morning sing-along may not have been routine, but little about the protracted race to replace the beleaguered DeLay has been ordinary.

DeLay, who dominated his district for 22 years, won the Republican primary in March even as his legal troubles mounted and popularity declined. The following month, he announced his intention to resign from Congress and move to Virginia. Texas Republicans tried to choose his replacement, saying an out-of-state resident could not appear on the Texas ballot.

Texas Democrats, eager to keep the politically damaged DeLay on the ticket, sued to stop the GOP, arguing that he was an eligible candidate under state law and the U.S. Constitution. On Aug. 7, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed. A week later, at DeLay's request, the Texas secretary of state removed his name from the ballot.

With no Republican candidate listed on the November ticket against Democrat Nick Lampson, GOP leaders scrambled to save the seat by naming a last-minute write-in candidate -- Houston City Councilwoman Sekula-Gibbs, a suburban dermatologist.

"The whole thing is crazy," said Judith Blanchard, a lawyer at the women's breakfast meeting who was sitting at what she called the "nonsinging table." "The Republican Party tried to do an end-run around the law and it backfired."

Blanchard supports Lampson, a four-term congressman unseated after his district was redrawn under a controversial plan pushed through by DeLay in 2003. Once the underdog, Lampson could now not only take the heavily Republican district, but help Democrats win the 15 seats needed to push the GOP out of power in the House.