Stockman Denies Endorsing Chuck Baldwin in 2008

I recently wrote a bit about the third party connections of former Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX). In that article, I linked to one of our former articles claiming that Stockman had voted for pastor and Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin in 2008. One of the editors at Republican elections website Red Racing Horses (full disclosure: I helped found the site) recently interviewed Stockman and asked him about that detail.

I asked Stockman whether he was supporting Mitt Romney for President. Stockman actually refused to say those words exactly, but did note twice that he “supports the nominee” and that he was roughly “on the same page as Rand Paul’ when it came to endorsing “the nominee.” When I asked whether he had endorsed Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party nominee in 2008 who Ron Paul endorsed, Stockman adamantly denied having done so. He said that he didn’t endorse in 2008, since he was too busy doing relief work for Hurricane Gustav. Stockman left himself no out on this question, saying he simply “wasn’t politically active” in 2008.

It is important to note that this does not necessarily preclude a private vote (rather than a public endorsement) for Baldwin. The interview also makes Stockman’s connections to Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), who he supported in his 1988 Libertarian presidential bid, more firm with a previously unannounced Paul endorsement.

When I asked Stockman how he planned to overcome his opponent’s money advantage, he noted several interesting points: first, he stated that he has the endorsement of Congressman Ron Paul, potentially a valuable name in the race. He also mentioned that Paul has given him $5,000, but that he was waiting to announce the endorsement and major contribution until closer to the race.

Stockman is currently in a Republican primary runoff with financial adviser Steve Takach.