This is excerpted from a Washington Times opinion column, "Inside Politics" by Greg Pierce (10/06/05):
Runoff in California
Illegal immigration emerged as a critical issue in the race to fill the nation's only vacant House seat, as an anti-immigration activist siphoned off enough votes from the Republican-backed favorite to force a runoff election in California.
State Sen. John Campbell finished with 46 percent of the vote in Tuesday's special election in Southern California's heavily Republican Orange County, but failed to gain the majority needed to avoid a runoff, the Associated Press reports.
He will face the top vote-getters from four other parties in the Dec. 6 election. Second-place finisher Marilyn Brewer, a liberal Republican who drew 17 percent of the vote, was eliminated from the race.
Mr. Campbell is still likely to win the seat relinquished by former Rep. Christopher Cox, a Republican who left after 16 years in office to become chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The combined vote Tuesday of his runoff opponents was less than 25 percent.
However, one of Mr. Campbell's most vocal critics remained in the race. American Independent Party candidate Jim Gilchrist, who co-founded the Minuteman Project and repeatedly attacked Mr. Campbell's anti-immigration pedigree during the campaign, finished third in the 17-candidate field with 14 percent of the vote.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20...0857-9528r.htm
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Gilchrist was able to come in 3rd in the race, eliminating a liberal Republican. Will his conitnued participation lose a Republican seat in the House? Probably not. I do hope the run-off gets more meda coverage.