As local (and many other) readers know, Austin was carved in to three congressional districts, as part of the Republican effort to increase its share of the Texas House delegation, and as a special, vindictive effort by our local fascist thug, Tom DeLay from Houston, to oust Lloyd Doggett, one of the most effective liberal Congressmen in the House. Doggett, in fact, has survived in one of the new districts, which stretches from South Austin to the Mexico border (!). Doggett used to be my Congressman, but my new District 10, which runs towards the outskirts of Houston, was designed for a Republican. In the primaries, there was a “choice” between a conservative and a Neanderthal, with the conservative winning. It looked like there would be no meaningful opposition, until now:

Lorenzo Sadun is a math professor at UT who is running as a write-in candidate in District 10. He has been running an impressively strong campaign. You can learn more about him here. I plan on writing him in.

And for those of you in my part of Austin, let me note that I also plan on voting for Kelly White for the Texas House, in hopes of ousting the pathetic Todd Baxter, the Republican who snuck in in 2002 with a “dirty tricks” campaign that is now the subject of a criminal investigation. My part of Austin, which is thick with university folks and educated professionals, really ought to be represented by someone more appropriate.