14th District primary a good Iraq barometer

We ought to get an idea of how the folks feel about the Iraq War next year by looking at the Republican congressional primary race right here in our own backyard.

Running for re-election, of course, is U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, Republican from Brazosport.

We jokingly refer to Paul as "the Grumpy Gynecologist" since he votes no a lot on just about everything -- all on constitutional grounds, of course.

But what's interested us in the last few years is the doc's unapologetic stance against the U.S. invasion/occupation/liberation of Iraq. He's been against it from the start.

We may be wrong, but we don't get the idea that his constituents, at least in this corner of his district, are necessarily anti-war. You see a lot of yellow ribbons on vehicles around here. Catch my drift?

But maybe we're mistaken. There might be a "Silent Majority" among us who are sick and tired of the whole nation-building project going on in the Middle East.

Alright, well, now there's one way to find out which way the wind's blowing.

Rep. Paul, described by his own spokesman as an "anti-war Libertarian" in Cragg Hines' latest column in the Houston Daily, has an official opponent in the Republican Primary for the 14th Congressional District.

(Dr. Paul ran for president once on the Libertarian Party ticket, after serving in Congress in the '70s & '80s, then returned to Congress in 1997 as a Republican.)

Paul's new opponent for re-election is Len Waterworth.

Waterworth lists his occupation as "consulting engineer" but he's a lot more than that, judging from we've been able to glean.

Waterworth is the former district engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District. Before that he worked at The Pentagon. And he also commanded the 91st Battallion of the First Cavalry Division at Fort Hood for a couple years.

We're guessing he's in favor of the current Iraq project.

The only picture of him we could find on Google shows him in uniform (with many medals on chest) addressing a crowd gathered at the ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the J.J. Mayes Wildlife Trace, a new birding trail at the Wallisville Project, back in May 2003. (The picture's pretty bad so we didn't post it.)

In his more recent civilian life, Waterworth serves on the board of directors of the Bayou Preservation Association and on the Greater Houston Partnership's flood control committee.

So, if you want contrasting candidates, and perhaps a good idea of how we here on the Petrochemical Coast view the War in Iraq, we've got it right here in the 14th District.
[houston.org]
[bayou preservation]
[portofbeaumont.com (PDF file)]