DeLay may be out even if he isn't convicted

SUGAR LAND, Tex. -- Larry and Judy Deats live in the heart of Tom DeLay's congressional district and would appear to be part of the Republican faithful that have kept the former House majority leader in office for 22 years.

By this point, even the Republican's most loyal supporters are doubting him, even though they're the kind of idiots who say things like this:

Mention Ronnie Earle, and Larry accuses the Travis County district attorney, a Democrat who convened the grand jury that indicted DeLay on money-laundering and conspiracy charges, of running a witch hunt. Bring up former vice president Al Gore, who attacked the Bush administration during a recent speech in Saudi Arabia, and Judy says he should be charged with treason.

But for the first time -- with DeLay under criminal indictment, rebuked three times by the House ethics committee and linked to former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to political corruption charges -- the couple is not sure whether their congressman will again get their votes.

His own party isn't making it any easier:

In Tuesday's Republican primary election here, undecided voters such as the Deatses could make the crucial difference for DeLay, whose hold on the seat has never been challenged seriously. But emboldened by DeLay's legal and ethical troubles, three Republicans have stepped up to oppose his renomination.

And as the article notes, even winning the nomination is no guarantee.

If DeLay emerges as the party's candidate, the road to reelection will not get any smoother. Former representative Nick Lampson, who has no opponent in the Democratic primary, has been running since last year and, with $1.4 million, has slightly more cash on hand than DeLay, according to the latest campaign finance report. A Houston Chronicle poll in January showed Lampson with a lead over DeLay of eight percentage points.

Eight points is not insignificant. And, in a display of poetic justice, if DeLay is defeated by a Democrat, it will at least partially be his own fault for making his district more strongly Democratic.

It will not help DeLay that his district is more Democratic, ironically by his own making. DeLay's legal and ethical entanglements stem from his efforts to redistrict Texas to elect more Republicans to the U.S. House.

Always a strong candidate in his own races, DeLay surrendered GOP voters in the realignment to bolster some other Republican districts. Now, after contending with indictment and departure from the House leadership, he could be facing the loss of the very seat he used to rise to power.

To paraphrase the rest of the article, he's probably going to win his primary and he's playing it very low-key right now. No TV or radio ads are being run in his name. He's playing to his hardcore voters. However, his win gives the Democrats a chance of winning and taking his district.

"I expect him to make it through the primary fairly handily, but my sense of this is that DeLay is in trouble over the course of this election cycle," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. "There's an even-money prospect of beating DeLay in the general election. He is wounded."

While this is definitely a hopeful time for the Democrats, it just makes me extremely angry that some party faithful are so blinded by politics that they think it's more important to support their own candidate regardless of his behavior. They'll take a criminal in office as long as he spouts the party line. That's just disgusting.