Election tomorrow

The congressional special election featuring Green Party candidate Béa Tiritilli is tomorrow. The New York Times is billing the election as a test of Republican confidence in the White House. In this overwhelmingly Republican Orange County district, one Republican, Marilyn Brewer, is running away from the President, while another, John Campbell, is sticking by his party's leader.

It seems unlikely that either one would win more than 50 percent of the entire vote, so the fun will really start on Wednesday, as the field narrows to one candidate from each party (from 17 overall) heading into the December run-off.

UPDATE: An enterprising Vibes Watch correspondent sends this:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * Sunday, October 2, 2005 * The Green Party of Orange County
Green Party Demands Retraction of Accusations of Violence, Attempted Murder by Minuteman Founder Jim Gilchrist

ORANGE COUNTY-The Green Party of Orange County demands a retraction of slanderous statements made by Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project and American Independent candidate for Congress in the 48th Congressional District, accusing the Green Party of being "terrorists" and individual Greens of orchestrating "mayhem" and "attempted murder."

Mr. Gilchrist's outrageous remarks were made during a televised debate that included Green Party candidate Béa Tiritilli in Irvine on September 20th, and to an Orange County journalist following another debate the following evening.

As a political party dedicated to nonviolence in policy and action, we demand that Mr. Gilchrist produce evidence to support his false and baseless claims of violent crimes or apologize for lies. We further call upon the American Independent Party to distance itself from its candidate's irresponsible, outlandish public behavior.

Why is would-be anti-immigrant icon Jim Gilchrist picking a fight with the Green Party candidate? My guess is that he hasn't exactly received the groundswell of support he had hoped for. I liked Tiritilli's response to Gilchrist's first accusation about violent Greens: "A few violent people who may or may not have been Greens do not represent my views any more than a few white supremicists at a Minuteman rally represent the views of the entire American Independent Party."