Condit’s Reelection Bid Hits 1st Hurdle

Rep. Gary Condit, who has regularly won reelection by landslide totals of 65% or better, could not gather enough signatures to avoid ballot fees and for the first time in his political career will have to pay to run for Congress.

Condit was 500 votes short of the required 3,000 signatures, according to a signature count Wednesday.

The amount Condit owes--$221--is negligible for what is expected to be an expensive political contest. Still, it is a dramatic indicator of how far and fast Condit’s star has fallen since he was linked last spring to Chandra Levy, an intern who has been missing since May 1.

When Condit filed his declaration of candidacy, he signed a blank check to the secretary of state’s office to pay the balance.

Condit’s son, Chad, who recently decided not to run for state Senate so he could work on his father’s reelection campaign, took responsibility for the signature shortage.

Chad Condit said he should have focused on obtaining signatures from Democrats, but instead simply went door to door, gathering signatures at random. About 6,000 signatures were obtained, but only 2,500 were accepted. The only signatures that count for a Democratic candidate are those from registered Democrats or unaffiliated voters who live within the recently redrawn 18th Congressional District.

He also blamed redistricting and the cancellation of a big fund-raising party. In past years, at the annual Condit Country fund-raiser, one-third to half of the qualifying signatures were collected in a single day.

Those who focus on the signature shortfall, Chad Condit said, “miss the point. The main issue is we have 6,000 voters who want Gary Condit to run. That’s a good base.”

Condit, who entered Congress in 1989, faces the prospect of a bitter primary with his former political protege, Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza of Merced. State Sen. Dick Monteith of Modesto is the leading GOP candidate.

The number of valid signatures counted by election clerks Wednesday in Fresno, Stanislaus, Merced and San Joaquin counties totaled about 2,500. Candidates get about 50 cents credit for each valid signature.

Chad Condit acknowledged that “there’s been some political damage done by the coverage of the last five months.” But he emphasized that his father has “by far the strongest record on issues of concern to Central Valley voters of any candidate in either party.”

Condit has seen his political support collapse at home and in Sacramento and Washington. Top Democrats, including Gov. Gray Davis and House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt, have criticized Condit’s perceived lack of candor since Levy disappeared.