Ben Bentzin is a douchebag. But is he a douchebag that will drop out of the upcoming general election? Via Kuff [but from Capitol Inside], there's some talk that he's planning on doing just that:

Democrats in the Austin area contend that there's a move afoot among local Republicans to remove high-tech executive Ben Bentzin from the general election ballot in favor of a candidate who might have a better chance of unseating Democratic State Rep. Donna Howard in House District 48. Howard surprised partisans on both sides of the aisle when she came close to knocking out Bentzin with 49.5 percent of the first round vote in a special election in January before reclaiming the seat for Democrats with 58 percent support in a February runoff. Bentzin, a wealthy former Dell Computer executive who'd been a big supporter of the arts, had been a heavy favorite initially as the candidate backed by GOP power brokers with Governor Rick Perry's endorsement and active support.

Despite the disappointing finish in the special election, Bentzin was given a second shot at Howard in the general election after running unopposed in the Republican primary. Since the special election, however, there have been few if any signs that Bentzin is actively campaigning for a fall rematch with Howard. The most recent postings on his web site, for example, are news clips that were published before the special election runoff vote almost five months ago.

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Democrats initially speculated that the GOP would try to replace Bentzin in the HD 48 race with Gail King, who's worked in the banking industry and served on the Eanes School Board in the Westlake area of Austin for the past three years. More recently, however, the speculation about a possible replacement candidate in HD 48 has turned to Pamela Waggoner, a Leander school trustee and former PTA president who runs a family-owned insurance business. Democrats theorize that the GOP would prefer to have a general election challenger with experience as an educator to help neutralize Howard's background as a former Eanes School Board member herself.

If Republicans do try to replace Bentzin on the November ballot, the opinion that Sparks' issued in the DeLay case may not preclude them from doing so. Sparks ruled that Texas Republican Chairwoman Tina Benkiser did not have the authority to declare DeLay ineligible to seek re-election in November based on the grounds that he moved to Virginia in April before resigning from Congress last month.

[...]

[Sparks'] opinion suggests that the argument that Benkiser and the state party have used to support the decision to declare DeLay ineligible would be more valid in a Texas Senate or House race to which a state constitutional one-year residency requirement applies.