18 Vie for Vacant House Seat in Calif.

50th Congressional District candidate Brian Bilbray, right, speaks as candidate Francine Busby looks on during a town council in San Diego Thursday, April 6, 2006. A special election will be held April 11 to fill the seat left vacant in November 2005 when Randall 'Duke' Cunningham resigned after pleading guilty to accepting $2.4 million worth of bribes from a contractor. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

This is going to be fun. From Yahoo News:

SAN DIEGO - Eighteen candidates in a solidly GOP district on the Southern California coast competed in a special election Tuesday for the congressional seat once held by Randy "Duke" Cunningham, now in prison for bribery.

Brian Bilbray, a former congressman-turned-lobbyist who was the choice of the GOP establishment; Republican businessman Eric Roach, who spent $1.8 million of his own money; and Democrat Francine Busby were considered the front-runners.

Republican candidate in the 50th congressional district Eric Roach shows off his ballot as his wife, Meg, tears the receipt at the polling place in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., Tuesday, April 11, 2006 (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi).


Cunningham represented the House district from 1993 until he resigned in disgrace late last year. In March, the former Vietnam War fighter ace was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors.

Tuesday's race had a wide-open ballot, with 14 Republicans, two Democrats, one Libertarian and one independent. If no one got more than 50 percent of the vote, the top finisher from each party would compete in a runoff June 6.

The winner will serve out the remaining eight months of Cunningham's term, and will almost certainly try to hold on to the seat come November.

Republicans outnumber Democrats 3-to-2 in the wealthy district.

If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the top finisher from each party competes in a June 6 contest, the same day as the primary for the midterm congressional elections.

An outright winner Tuesday or, more likely, the winner of the June contest takes a seat in Congress for the remaining eight months of Cunningham's term — and likely immediately begins campaigning to hold on to the seat come November.

With the GOP field crowded, Democrats hoped that Busby, who ran and lost to Cunningham in 2004, could score an upset, a prospect that her own campaign acknowledged was unlikely.

Eighteen candidates fighting each other for Duke Cunningham's congressional seat--with 14 of those candidates from the Republican Party! Sometimes I have to laugh at the absurdity of politics here. Republican Duke Cunningham gets convicted of bribery, and the Republican Party can't seem to find a single candidate to gather around to replace him? What happened to goose-stepping Republicans?

This is going to be fun to watch. Now the Democrats are probably going to gather around Busby, since she ran and lost to Cunningham in 2004. But I would be more interested to see who splits the Republican vote. We've got the GOP establishment favorite in Bilbray, We've got Roach who is trying to buy the seat with $1.8 million of his own money. And we've also got Howard Kaloogian in this mix--you know Howard Kaloogian:

Former state Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian's campaign attempted to recover from an embarrassing misstep. Internet bloggers discovered that photos on his campaign Web site purportedly showing a tranquil Iraqi street scene had been taken in Istanbul, Turkey. The photos were removed.

50th Congressional District candidate Howard Kaloogian speaks at a town council meeting in San Diego Thursday, April 6, 2006 (AP Photo/Denis Poroy).

It is going to be a fun election here....