August 20, 2010 9:04 PM
DEMOCRAT JOHN CULLAR WITHDRAWS FROM SD22 RACE AGAINST BRIAN BIRDWELL
TDP: “The Republicans have done everything in their means to game the system and protect an ineligible Republican officeholder. In this race, the playing field is not level and the fight is not fair."
And this, dateline Saturday morning ...
August 21, 2010 10:57 AMREPUBLICAN PARTY OF TEXAS REACTS TO CULLAR WITHDRAWAL FROM SD 22 RACE
RPT: "Cullar’s actions today tell us what we already knew, that he was not a viable candidate. The Democrats put him up in the hopes they could steal this office. They filed a frivolous lawsuit to that end. And it blew up in their faces. So now their straw candidate turned tail and ran."
Calmer rhetoric here from Evan Smith at the TexTrib (and Cullar himself).
John Cullar, the attorney and former McLennan County Democratic Party chair chosen to run in the November general election against state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, notified state election officials (Friday) that he is withdrawing from the race — one day after the 5th Court of Appeals ruled that Birdwell could remain on the ballot despite questions raised by the Democrats about his residency.
In a press release announcing his withdrawal, Cullar continued to maintain that Birdwell's residency is specious:
My decision to accept the candidacy for Senate District 22 a little over two weeks ago was not about right versus left. It was about right versus wrong. I was — and am — convinced that the Republican nominee for Senate District 22 is not qualified under the Texas Constitution to serve in the Texas Senate.
But in the end, Cullar said, money and time were not his side, particularly in a senate district whose residents are overwhelmingly Republican and during a difficult year for Democrats in general.
With little time for me to organize, raise money, and introduce myself to the voters of this District, an already uphill fight against an incumbent Senator became a cause where the odds of winning did not outweigh the odds that my candidacy could divert resources from other Democrats in each of the ten counties of the 22nd District.
Say what you like about this matter as it relates to whichever party you identify with: we are ruled by one political party -- and it's conservative and Republican -- here in Texas, from the governor's ($10,000-monthly rental) mansion to the legislature to the courts. Whether you like that or not makes no difference.
Whether it gets weakened or strengthened in November is still to be determined (despite Evan Smith's -- and many others' -- presumption of loss).
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