Reports of the political demise of Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R) are premature.

The Congressman’s campaign committee confirmed Monday that a software error, not out-of-the-blue retirement plans, caused the eight-term Republican lawmaker to shutter his campaign committee last month — on paper, at least.

As of press time Monday, Diaz-Balart’s campaign committee was still determining how a termination report was inadvertently filed with the Federal Election Commission last month, suggesting that he wanted to end his Congressional career.

Although a box checked on the form filed with the agency appeared to indicate Diaz-Balart was requesting to terminate his campaign committee, a separate field appeared to suggest his campaign was merely filing a return for the period Nov. 28 to Dec. 31, 2006.

Diaz-Balart’s 21st district just west of Miami is fairly Republican, and if he retired there likely would be a huge scramble to replace him. But Diaz-Balart is just 53 years old and does not appear to be in a hurry to go anywhere.
— Matthew Murray