Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), who lost the Republican primary for Senate to conservative activist Christine O’Donnell in a big upset two weeks ago, has announced that he will not run a write-in campaign for the general election.
Today was the deadline to register a write-in candidacy with the state, had Castle decided to do so. “The party has spoken,” Castle told the Wilmington News Journal. “I know a lot of people who didn’t vote but that’s the way it works. It’s just part of the process. I respect the process.” However Castle still said he has not changed his decision to not endorse O’Donnell, citing the “personal attacks and misrepresentations” by her campaign, but is simply endorsing the “Republican ticket.” (Note: By “personal attacks,” Castle might be referring to how O’Donnell’s campaign spread rumors and innuendo that he was gay.)
A recent Rasmussen poll said that Castle would only get five percent of the vote as a write-in candidate — and furthermore, he would take most of those votes away from Democratic nominee Chris Coons, thus doing O’Donnell a favor in the race.
The TPM Poll Average gives Coons a lead of 55.0%-39.6% over O’Donnell. The polls have also consistently shown that Castle would have led Coons if he had won the Republican primary.
