Yes it's true that Jim Gilchrist is thinking seriously about running against Loretta Sanchez. H/T for Jubal of Red County for posting about this first. I first heard about this three weekends ago while I was helping man a Ron Paul booth at the Gun Show over at the OC Fairgrounds. I spoke with Jim personally while he was manning a Minuteman booth at the same show. We hadn't spoke for awhile, so I just wanted to catch up with him to see how he's been. After the 48th CD special election, we went our separate ways.

He dropped the bombshell on me that he was thinking of running against Loretta Sanchez for Congress. My first thought was...disbelief and then I was asking myself of the why. I'm the first person to say we need a new Congressman from the 47th CD, but Jim Gilchrist is not the first person that comes to mind when one is thinking of viable candidates for this district. I was thinking that I had heard that Van Tran was angling for this seat when he is termed out, but that isn't until 2010. In the meantime, the GOP has to field a candidate in 2008 to run against Loretta. I know one thing for sure. You can't win unless you're in the game. So in that respect, I'm all for him running if he's up to it.

I also knew that Quang X Pham has expressed an interest in running for this seat in the past. In fact I spoke with Quang last week and he says he is also seriously thinking about his own bid. Neither of them live in the district. All the sudden it looks like a free for all for the GOP nomination here. At first glance Quang strikes me as a more legitimate contender for this seat should he get the nomination. He obviously fits the district better because of his amazing life story immigrating from Vietnam and then becoming one of the first Vietnamese-Americans helicopter pilots in our Armed Forces. The district is overwhelmingly ethic Vietnamese and Hispanic with a sprinkling of honkies whites like me mixed in.

You can read the rest of Allan's post here.