Tight race to succeed Ron Paul growing heated

Bill Clinton, the Democratic Party's ablest advocate these days, touched down in Beaumont last week to lend his star power to that rare political phenomenon in the Lone Star State, a Democrat running for an open seat in Congress who actually has a chance of winning.

Although the Republican candidate, state Rep. Randy Weber of Alvin, remains a slight favorite to take the GOP-leaning District 14 seat held for years by Ron Paul, Democrat Nick Lampson is competitive. The former congressman from Beaumont out-raised his opponent by about $50,000 in the third quarter and had about $422,000 in cash on hand, while Weber had $55,000.

"I think it'll be very close," said University of Houston political scientist Richard Murray. "Lampson's not your average Democrat. He's an experienced and well-funded candidate, but he's got to get a lot of Romney crossover voters to pull it off."

In a Beaumont rally the other night, Clinton described Lampson as someone who will "work with anybody that's got an idea worth listening to."

Lampson's opponent, Clinton said, without mentioning Weber by name, is an ideologue more interested in adhering to tea party orthodoxy than in serving the needs of the district.

"He said he wasn't knocking on doors in moderate households because they were not receptive to his message," Clinton told the crowd.

Donations in dispute

In a tight race that grows more heated by the day, Lampson has questioned Weber's character and judgment for raising and keeping $22,500 in illegal campaign donations. A resident of Jefferson County who supports Lampson filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission last week.

Weber, who touts the endorsements of Paul, Gov. Rick Perry, GOP Senate nominee Ted Cruz, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and several area congressmen, acknowledges that seven individual contributors exceeded the individual-donor limit of $2,500, with four of them writing checks for $5,000 apiece and three others writing multiple checks for $2,500.

"If he can't be trusted to manage his own money, how can he be trusted with the public's money?" said Lampson campaign spokesman Daniel Van Hoogstraten.

View post:
Tight race to succeed Ron Paul growing heated