DeLay Pulls own Tube

Tom DeLay, after winning the Republican primary, has decided to step aside so a Republican with less baggage can run against veteran Democrat (and redistricting casualty) Nick Lampson.

U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay decided more than a week ago to resign his seat, disappointed with the margin of his Republican primary victory and looking at poll numbers that showed he might lose the seat in November, he said today.

DeLay said in an interview with Sam Malone on KTRH-AM (740) that he "should have done better" than his 62 percent showing against four challengers in the March 7 primary.

His internal polling showed he had a 50-50 chance of winning in November, he said.

This development, while welcome, is not a complete surprise. DeLay, always despised by Democrats, was in trouble for several reasons, some of his own creation.

• DeLay was in serious trouble for alleged ethics violations. This is the most loudly-trumpeted, but least-important reason. The Democrats, bereft of principles, and so of new ideas, seized on the charges as an expedient despite the fact that DeLay himself had given them plenty of ammunition during the Terri Schiavo debacle.
• DeLay's unpopular stand on Terri Schiavo and, more importantly, his reckless remarks about the judiciary afterwards, made him highly suspect among the more educated, less religious Republican voters in his district.
• The demographics in his district had been changing in ways unfavorable to him in recent years.
• Tom DeLay, while not exactly a champion of Houston's light rail boondoggle, was no fiscal conservative, as evidenced by the unprincipled way he "fought" against light rail.
  

I'm glad to be rid of him. Unfortunately, the Democrats showed by their choice for an opponent that they do not understand that a more principled candidate can win an election. Thus they squandered their opportunity to run someone substantially better than DeLay.

And so, whether we get someone much better than DeLay will depend in part on how independent of DeLay the replacement candidate proves to be. DeLay's vow to "work to elect a conservative Republican", especially given what he regards as "conservative", is not encouraging.

-- CAV