The American Spectator

Paul Crespo, a candidate for Congress in Florida, has an excellent op-ed in today’s Washington Times. Oddly enough, even though I work for the WashTimes, I didn’t even know he had submitted a piece (much less that we had run it) until just an hour ago, because I was so wrapped up in the Kagan nomination that I had shut out everything else. The reason it is odd is that Paul happens to have been my roommate one year at Georgetown University. Don’t hold that against him: We weren’t particularly close, and were in only the most intermittent (intermittent but friendly) contact in the two decades since. (In other words, if I’m objectionable, don’t assume that he is!) But I can say that I sat down with Paul last year several times and was very impressed. He has built quite a résumé, and always has been superbly intelligent. And he has long been active in conservative politics in Florida, always — as far as I could tell from a distance — in a constructive fashion. Endorsements in far-flung races aren’t my business. But I can say that the more people like Paul Crespo who run for office, the better. He’s a good guy.

As another aside, my smallish class at Georgetown somehow produced four people who have served as fulltime conservative columnists at various times: Crespo, in Florida; me; Deroy Murdock, who writes regularly for Scripps-Howard and National Review Online; and Jonathan Gurwitz, who does absolutely top-notch work for the San Antonio Express-News. Yet only I actually served on the staff of any of GU’s campus papers. It’s amazing how things work out sometimes.

But back to Paul: Do give his column a look. His race merits watching, both in a contested primary and in what promises to be a fairly hotly contested general election battle.