Pasco GOP chairman Bill Bunting said this afternoon he may abandon his idea to ask Republican candidates to promise to endorse the winner in their primaries. The party faces challenges to incumbents in the sheriff's office, and all three commission races. But ill reaction to the concept reduced momentum, Bunting said.

"The candidates, they're all treating each other with respect," Bunting said, not mentioning Commissioner Ted Schrader's tangle with challenger John Nicolette over a write-in candidate. Or Sheriff Bob White's refusal to debate Bob Sullivan Wednesday and Thursday. Or Commissioner Ann Hildebrand turning rival Wil Nickerson into the consumer affairs office for not having a license to be a handy man.

Pasco Democrats have no plans for a pledge. Or course, they only have two primary races.

--David DeCamp, Times staff writer