I just received the following e-mail from the campaign of retired General Ricardo Sanchez, who was running as a Democrat for the open Senate seat of Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchinson. General Sanchez lost his home to a fire about a month ago; that, together with anemic fundraising numbers, has caused him to announce his withdrawal from the Senate race.
Sanchez, a former senior commander of US troops in Iraq would have likely won the nomination had he stayed in, and his exit leaves a gaping hole in our 2012 candidate lineup for the US Senate. While admittedly Sanchez would have been a decided underdog, he would at least have provided a credible alternative to whomever the Texas GOP will nominate (there's a lot of candidates, but Lt. Governor David Dewhurst is the nominal frontrunner).
As Texas' filing deadline has been pushed back due to the Republican legal fight against the proposed redistricting map, Democrats still have time to find a credible challenger.
Sanchez's e-mail is below the fold.