Castle not ruling out write-in campaign

    A spokesperson for Rep. Mike Castle says there’s a “fraction of a chance” he could run as a write-in candidate against Christine O’Donnell and Chris Coons in the general election for U.S. Senate.

    There’s a chance Mike Castle could get back in the race for the U.S. Senate seat once held by Vice President Joe Biden.

    A spokeswoman for the long-time congressman says he could pursue a write-in campaign after his stunning Republican primary loss.

    Christine O’Donnell defeated Castle in the Sept. 14 primary to win the Republican nomination and will face Democrat Chris Coons in the Nov. 2 general election.

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    As far as becoming a write-in candidate, spokeswoman Kate Dickens says it’s something Castle is mulling over. She says there’s a “fraction of a chance” he would run.

    She says Castle hadn’t considered the write-in option before, but constituents are asking him to run.

    In a new CNN/Time poll of likely Delaware voters, when asked to “suppose that Mike Castle were the Republican Party’s candidate,” Castle had a 55 to 37 percent lead over Coons. The same poll shows a 55-39 advantage for Coons over O’Donnell.

    According to Delaware Election Commissioner Elaine Manlove, Castle would have to declare as a write-in candidate by Sept. 30.

    “If he decides not to do that and if there are people that vote for him anyway, we don’t count it,” she said. “It goes into an ‘other’ category.”

    If Castle declares, Manlove says his name would not appear on the ballot. Voters would have to push a button next to the appropriate race.

    “It’s just like a little voting button, but it says ‘write-in,'” she said. “You push that button and a little door opens and you physically write in the name and then it’s on the paper tape that we pull out at the end of the day.”

    Because it would be a hand-counted vote, Manlove says it would take a significant amount of work and delay final results.

    Ironically, Manlove says the only candidate she could recall that made any kind of a dent as a write-in was O’Donnell. In 2006, O’Donnell ran as a write-in candidate in the general election for Senate against Jan Ting and incumbent Tom Carper, finishing with four percent of the vote as Carper won the re-election.

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