Eric Roach in Washington D.C. to consider candidacy
The 2nd place Republican in the April 11th special election, Eric Roach, has decided to look to the people of Washington, D.C. to decide whether to run in San Diego’s 50th congressional district.
According to the North County Times Roach is meeting with conservative groups in the nation’s capitol to see if they might be willing to back him against fellow Republican Brian Bilbray in the June 6th Republican primary (this would be for the 2 year term).
It’s unclear from the NC Times story what kind of reaction Roach has been getting.
While stressing that Roach has yet to make a decision, Roach spokesman Devereux said "there is a concern among many Republicans about holding on to the seat."
He said that opinions are split on whether Roach should compete against Bilbray in the primary.
"One viewpoint is that everybody needs to coalesce around Mr. Bilbray," Devereux said. "Another point of view is that conservatives are not energized enough to even turn out to help him win the runoff."
3rd place Republican candidate in the April 11th election, Howard Kaloogian, told the NC Times in an earlier story that he was willing to back Roach over Bilbray if Roach decides to run.
While picking up a pledge of support from Kaloogian, Roach also lost a supporter when former Congressman Ron Packard (who had been one of Roach’s few key endorsements) announced he would now be backing Bilbray in the spirit of party unity.
Packard’s willingness to jump to whomever seems to be the winner smacks of opportunism at its worst. This is very disappointing from a former congressman and shows that the money draw for congressmen turned lobbyists is more influential than loyalty to any principle. If Roach was “head and shoulders” above the competition according to Packard, he should have had the decency to wait out announcing his support for Bilbray until Roach decided not to run. What a coward! I have no respect for him whatsoever.
Comment by JP in RSF — May 2, 2006 @ 3:13 am
Who does Packard lobby for these days? Anybody know?
Comment by yeah right — May 2, 2006 @ 4:39 am
Probably anyone who will pay him.
Comment by JP in RSF — May 3, 2006 @ 5:09 am