Seeing this Reuters headline, "
DeLay fights for his political life in Texas", you know this piece is going to be good.
He has been indicted, rebuked and dethroned from his Republican leadership perch, but Tom DeLay's fight for re-election to Congress could be the biggest challenge in a long political career.
Poor, innocent, never-hurt-even-a-fly (except when he was exterminating them) DeLay is the victim.
"You never know how well an election will go for an indicted person," DeLay acknowledged in an interview with Reuters after a recent breakfast with Houston-area realtors.
"Getting beat up by the national media and the Houston Chronicle has taken its toll," DeLay said, referring to the local newspaper. "It's polarized my district, you either love me or hate me. Thank God there are still more that love me."
Well, maybe. That's what elections are for,
The combative former House Republican leader will begin to learn how many folks at home still love him on Tuesday, when he faces three challengers in a Republican primary.
If he survives, he will square off in November against former Democratic congressman Nick Lampson in one of the country's most high-profile, expensive and no doubt bitter races.
"DeLay is in trouble. The primary is no sure thing and the general election is even more dangerous," said Richard Murray, a political analyst at the University of Houston.
"Much of this is totally beyond his control," he said. "If he gets convicted in Texas or indicted in Washington, it would be the end for DeLay."
Talk about karma, huh? The dude is a walking ethical and criminal mess. He very well could be indicted in DC, which would add to his Texas indictment collection. Ronnie Earle is aggressively pursuing the Abramoff-DeLay BBF angle, which could yield even more indictments in Texas. Then you've got the 1/15 Houston Chronicle poll that showed DeLay lagging Democratic challenger Nick Lampson 30-22 with favorable/unfavorable ratings of 28/60.
Finally, he's suffering serious financial woes. His ridiculously high burn-rate and legal fees have left him with just $150K more than Lampson, and Nick is rapidly closing the gap.
At the rate he's going, he'll soon be cribbing from Duke Cunningham's resignation letter. But not until after the voters in TX-22 kick his ass out on the curb.