I spent part of the morning (while my wife was out with friends) working preparing a last-minute mailing to go out to local Republicans on behalf of our local congressional candidate, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs -- and stopped to participate in a block walk in a friend's precinct along with Shelley while driving up to get supplies for the polling place.

The Washington Post covers the race today.

National Republican luminaries, including President Bush and Vice President Cheney, have stumped through this congressional district recently, praising the conservative credentials of candidate Shelley Sekula-Gibbs.

What Sekula-Gibbs has been doing is much more basic: She is trying to get voters to understand that she's running.

Congressional District 22, encompassing parts of four suburban counties south of Houston, used to be a slam-dunk for Republicans. Then its representative -- Tom DeLay, who was the House majority leader -- ran into ethics and legal troubles.

Under an ethics investigation and indicted on state money-laundering and conspiracy charges, the 12-term congressman handily won the March GOP primary but then announced his resignation from Congress and his official move to Virginia. DeLay assumed Texas Republican officials would replace him with a viable candidate -- but that was when the race got complicated.

One lawsuit and several federal court decisions later, DeLay officially withdrew as the nominee in late August. Sekula-Gibbs, a Houston City Council member, subsequently emerged as the GOP choice, but under Texas election law it was too late to put her name on the ballot. Voters instead will get a ballot with a blank space next to "Republican" for District 22. But Sekula-Gibbs will be listed as the GOP nominee for the special election -- also to be held on Tuesday -- to fill the remainder of DeLay's term, which will officially end in January.

Sekula-Gibbs, 53, has tried to simplify the story: "Vote Twice for Shelley," goes her campaign jingle, to the tune of "Roll Out the Barrel." "Write In" and "Vote Twice," say her blue-and-yellow campaign signs.

"That's probably the number one issue to get across," Sekula-Gibbs told GOP activists called together for a Friday breakfast to ask them to promote her write-in candidacy in the final 72 hours before Election Day. "We think 92 percent of voters know there is a write-in," she said of the Republican electorate. "We're in the final quarter of the game, and we cannot take anything for granted."

Shelley is surging in the polls and supporters are enthusiastic. Indeed, she is more energetic, enthusiastic and excited this close to the end of a campaign than any candidate I have ever worked with. I believe that we have a winner.