Campbell (R)abandons congressional race

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Republican state Rep. Tom Campbell has dropped his bid for Congress, saying he wants to run for another term in the state House of Representatives.

The Roy chiropractor’s decision, announced earlier this week, comes at a time that a competitor for his state job has stepped up from his own party.

Yelm businessman J.T. Wilcox said he is running next year for the 2nd Legislative District seat Campbell has held off and on for eight terms, and he intends to tie Campbell to what he calls the “not positive situation” in state governance.

Campbell said he no longer thinks U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Tacoma, will leave his seat for an Obama administration job, and he’s not willing to ask constituents for the $2 million he thinks is needed to unseat the moderate Democrat. He said he also was asked by a number of constituents, whom he did not name, to drop out of the congressional race.

“I think I could beat the incumbent, to be honest with you. But I am worried about the money. That’s a lot of money. And the NRCC (National Republican Campaign Committee) has made clear it’s not a priority race. So you’re not going to get the large scale funding that you need,’’ Campbell, a party maverick, said Thursday.

“I have a good position in Olympia. I’m a committee chair and I’ve done ground-breaking work and have a lot more to do,” Campbell said. As examples of his accomplishments, he cited his work to bring funding for parts of a Yelm loop highway and a cross-base highway in Pierce County. He plans to push for both, plus state health care reform dealing with infection control.

Campbell’s decision leaves Dick Muri, a Pierce County Council member, and James Postma, a Republican who lost to Smith last year, still in the 9th district congressional race. Smith had $505,389 in cash as of June 30, compared with the $3,935 Campbell raised and the $1,000 Postma had on hand.

State Republican chairman Luke Esser showed up

http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/959933.html