Ciro Rodriguez bows out

[theredstate]

A little birdie just told me that potential CD 23 candidate and former Congressman Ciro Rodriguez will not run for Congressional District 23. This was announced at the local AFL-CIO meeting tonight by Ciro himself.

I suspect it has something to do with the inability to raise enough money in a short period of time. It looks like this race will be between Lukin Gilliland and Henry Bonilla.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems we have a horse race.

UPDATE: The Quorum Report is confirming that Ciro is out of the race. The question now becomes will his name be removed from the ballot. If Rodriguez' name remains on the ballot, then it puts the Southside (of San Antonio) vote in flux. There will be two known names, Uresti and Rodriguez, that will pull votes away from Bonilla. However, to win you will need crossover votes from the more conservative parts of the district. Will Gilliland be able to capitalize from this situation? Maybe.

I tend to think this will help Lukin Gilliland. This should be fun race.

[PDittie]

1. Gilliland has a troublesome record of donations

While he has given a total of $1100 to the Texas Democratic Party and John Courage, he has also given $2000 -- the maximum -- to Bush-Cheney '04, a total of $3500 to John Cornyn on four separate occasions, and $250 to Lamar Smith and Henry Bonilla.

That's right; he donated to the guy he's now running against.

Now, I thought that CD-23 was redrawn by the courts to allow improved chances for Hispanic representation. So why is a rich white guy who gives to the GOP suddenly the front-runner?

Hey Ed: what happened to Rick Bolanos, who was selected by the Democratic primary voters in March? Is he not on your handicapping scorecard because his heart and his principles aren't in the right place?

Or is it just about the money?

[PDittie]

2. I withdraw the contention that the candidate has

donated to Republicans, as upon closer inspection it is revealed that Lukin Sr. is the Republican donor, and Lukin Jr. the Democrat.

I re-pose all the remaining questions.

[theredstate]

3. I don't question Bolanos' heart or principles

I am trying to be pragmatic as possible because I want the seat so bad I can taste it. The reality is that we have an abbreviated race and candidates need to be able to get their message to the people fast. Without a known base (e.g. Uresti) or money (e.g. Gilliland), it will be difficult reaching through all the dissonance that will be created with a highly public and contested race.

Hell, I've been wrong before...

[theredstate]

4. My dog skip would have a better Hispanic voting record.

Bonilla voted for the Westmore and Norwood amendments on the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. These amendments were hostile to voting rights.

See http://curryingfavor.blogspot.com/

The Lynn Westmore (R-Ga.) Amendment (Would have tied up personnell in the Justice Department by requiring the Attorney General to make annual assessments of what jurisdictions should be covered under the preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Additionally, it would shift the burden of proof for proving whether a community has stopped discriminating from that jurisdiction to the Justice Department.)

The Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.) Amendment (Uses a different system to determine whether a state should be covered under the Act, relying on previous presidential voting figures as the yardstick. The measure would effectively repeal Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Under this formula, using figures from the 1996, 2000 and 2004 elections, pratically all states would be exempted.)

Honestly, I would like to see a Hispanic in that seat but if push comes to shove would take any Democrat rather than Bonilla any day. I think it is safe to say that having any the Democratic candidates win would be a HUGE benefit to the district as a whole including addressing Hispanic issues.