My guess is that anyone who was of a mind to wager on which candidate would be the first to withdraw from the race for Santa Barbara City Council would have put their money on John Thyne. After all, this past week he was forced to explain why he has been charged with violating his probation for driving under the influence.
The gamblers would have lost. Around 5:20 pm Friday, Olivia Uribe sent out a press release announcing that she was pulling out of the race for city council.At 24, she was the youngest candidate in the field. Her announcement raises more questions than it answers. Uribe says that she is, "unable to continue my campaign for City Council due to an unforeseen turn of events."
Coincidentally, I had run into her Thursday evening and she told me she would be making a formal statement of her intention to withdraw. When I registered my surprise, especially in light of the fact that she had already received some key endorsements, most notably from the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party and the Santa Barbara County Young Democrats, she responded that a lot of people seemed to be jealous of that fact.
I mentioned that politics is oftentimes a full-contact sport and she agreed that it was.
In this instance, it looks like she has been knocked off the field of play.
In any event, I have the feeling that we haven't heard the last of this.
© 2009 by Craig Smith and www.craigsmithsblog.com
