To no one's surprise, the Shami gubernatorial campaign is in disarray

You know a political campaign is going nowhere when top aides resign after early voting has started. In this instance, it is the troubled gubernatorial campaign of Democratic hopeful Farouk Shami, the hair-products millionaire from Houston.

The Austin American-Statesman reported early this afternoon that several of Shami’s aides resigned after a chaotic day triggered by a bizarre e-mail exchange Capitol and political reporters received. The e-mail that started the whole thing accused former Houston Mayor Bill White of being an early supporter of a racial profiling plan, a claim the Shami campaign is now disavowing.

White is the leading gubernatorial candidate in the crowded field of Democrats and he is by far the best known despite the millions of dollars Shami is spending to become well-known among Texas Democrats.

The disarray in the Shami campaign is not surprising because since a Feb. 8 televised debate with White, he has stumbled almost daily. For instance, in the hour-long debate Shami said that “a day without Mexicans is like a day without sunshine." Then, in an interview with a Dallas TV station when he was asked to elaborate on that comment Shami said that Hispanics are essential to the Texas workforce because whites don’t like to work in factories.

And in a subsequent interview with a Houston TV station Shami left open the possibility that the Bush administration might have been involved in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, just like his Republican counterpart Debra Medina did in a radio interview with conservative commentator Glenn Beck the day before.

Based on letters to the editor in various newspapers and on readers’ comments posted on the online stories newspapers post, one has to wonder how much effort – and money – Shami will continue putting into his campaign. After all, there are less than two weeks left before the March 2 primary and recent polls indicate that his run for governor is going nowhere.