So, you're not gonna show up?

Given his court-induced win in 2006, Congressman Nick Lampson (D-TX 22) knew that he couldn't take any debate for granted. On October 20th, the Rosenberg-Richmond Area Chamber of Commerce was to sponsor a debate featuring Lampson and Republican candidate Pete Olson, as well as Libertarian candidate John Wieder. Lampson called his decision to take part in the debate 'tentative' back in February while ten Republicans were battling for their party's nomination.

And now Lampson won't be at the debate, leaving the Chamber's board of directors speechless.

The Lampson camp calls it a 'scheduling decision', and spokesperson Trevor Kincaid argues that Lampson did not 'promise to attend'. The camp did make a mention about Lampson's obligations in Washington as well as the incumbent's decision to take part in a Clear Lake-area event of similar nature to the Rosenberg event. What is rather contradictory is whether or not Olson confirmed to take part in the Clear Lake debate...Lampson's spokesperson argues Olson has not committed to the event, but the Olson camp argues their candidate did accept the invitation.

While I agree that the Clear Lake portion is especially important to the district (it contains the Johnson Space Center), this last-minute foible will likely affect Lampson's performance in the Fort Bend portion of the district, throwing the Lampson camp into panic mode -- which will force the Congressman to rely on the Harris portion for a victory.