The March 2nd primary is fast approaching - today is the last day to register to vote in it, don't delay, head over to Leo Vasquez's site, print out a form and get it postmarked by midnight. And as the big voting day gets closer, Ed Hubbard has received an endorsement that just might be a game changer - the C-Club of Houston has endorsed his campaign for Chair of the Harris County Republican Party.

I say game changer for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, this endorsement has the potential to unlock the campaign finance well that Mr. Hubbard will need to sprint past Jared Woodfill. The C-Club's member list is a who's who of Houston finance and conservative politics. Many members of the business community have been hesitant to contribute to anyone's campaign in this race because of the inherent advantage that an incumbent has.

This endorsement sends a signal to those contributors that the situation is so dire at the HCRP that a change is needed. You and I both know that if the situation wasn't dire, there is no possible way that such a conservative club would endorse a challenger to the status quo. If there is any one thing that the business community likes, it is stability. In this case, staying with the status quo would mean further losses for the HCRP and the only thing worse than instability is for the county to turn completely blue, meaning higher taxes and bigger government.

Secondly, this endorsement highlights the dire financial situation of the HCRP: the end of year campaign finance reports just came out and they are even worse than the mid-year ones. The Harris County Democratic Party now has 16 times the amount of Cash on Hand and more than doubled the total funds raised by the R's. Click on the links for the reports.

Obviously, this doesn't mean that Mr. Hubbard will win, although it should certainly give his campaign a boost, along with his recently updated endorsement list. Mr. Woodfill still remains the favorite due to the power of his incumbency and is using current HCRP resources to his advantage.

I don't think that you can count out Paul Simpson though. The C-Club's endorsement will help him as well - remember, many people were hesitant to contribute due to the incumbent, not necessarily because they wanted to contribute to Mr. Hubbard. Mr. Simpson's endorsement list is also growing and the recent forums have been particularly good to his campaign.

Unfortunately, I think this development doesn't help Don Large and effectively eliminates him as a viable candidate. As long as it was a low budget affair, Mr. Large could compete because he has fresh and innovative ideas. Now that it will, most likely, become an expensive campaign, he will be left out. Which is unfortunate - I hope that the eventual winner will bring him aboard their team and use his energy.

You don't have much time left to decide. Check the calendar, pick one of the forums left, listen to the candidates and make a choice.