Wow — the disaster continues to unfold. From today’s Houston Chronicle:
Republican leaders hoping to preserve the party’s hold on the district formerly represented by Tom DeLay disagreed Wednesday about a meeting scheduled tonight to seek consensus on a write-in candidate.
Fort Bend County Chairman Gary Gillen wrote a letter to prospective candidates in the county urging them not to attend the meeting, saying it excluded grass-roots Republicans. But his counterpart in Harris County, Jared Woodfill, said the gathering was the best way to unify the party behind a single Republican candidate.
As I noted yesterday, one Republican candidate is already thumbing his nose at the process, saying he’ll run no matter what the outcome of the meeting.
The Republicans hope for retaining DeLay’s seat is already faint since coaxing voters to write in a candidate’s name is notoriously difficult — but if they can’t agree on a single candidate, then the situation fast becomes hopeless.
The disarray has caused one Republican, former Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA), to publicly endorse the Libertarian candidate. While not a GOPer, he does have his name on the ballot.
