Tom DeLay Drops Re-Election Bid
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay will not seek re-election and will soon resign from Congess.
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texan touched by a lobbying scandal that ensnared some of his former top aides and cost the Republican his leadership post, won’t seek re-election to Congress, officials said Monday. They said DeLay also is likely to resign his seat and leave Congress by the end of May. DeLay was expected to disclose his plans Tuesday, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the congressman had not made that announcement.
Several officials said DeLay called Texas members of Congress to tell them he is dropping out of his re-election race. “He’ll resign,” a former senior DeLay aide said.
Big news, although hardly a surprise. DeLay’s troubles have mounted to the point where he was less than a 50-50 bet to win re-election in a district that has been gerrymandered to include few of his longtime constituents and, even if he pulled off victory, his former colleagues have no interest in putting him back in a leadership position.
This is good news all around for the GOP. It helps stop the bleeding caused by the Abramoff scandal and related misdeeds that, even if he had no criminal complicity in, were direct results of decisions made by DeLay. This early in the cycle, there’s still plenty of time to find a clean candidate to replace DeLay as the Republican nominee.
Further, with six months to go until the election, this is hardly a Torecelli situation where the opposition candidate spent his campaign money fighting one opponent only to have a last-minute switch. Indeed, the general election campaign for Congress has not started in the minds of very many voters.
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About James Joyner
[IMG] The Political Pit Bull thinks the development “might be an ‘ominous sign’ for DeLay’s current legal situation, but this event itself is not representative of any problem for Republicans in 2006.”Outside the Beltway agrees: “This is good news all around for the GOP.” Like several others, TexasRainmaker sees the resignation as the death knell for ex-Rep. Nick Lampson’s (D) camp. RedState’s Crank: “In the end, as he often did, DeLay put the good of the party first.
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Officials: DeLay Won’t Seek Re-Election…
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texan touched by a lobbying scandal that ensnared some of …
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DeLay Withdrawing From CD22 Race!…
BREAKING! If the currently breaking report form Chris Matthews is correct, my congressman, former house Majority leader Tom Delay, is withdrawing from the race for CD22 based upon falling poll numbers and recent guilty pleas by former staffers. It is…..
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[...] Outside The Beltway (James Joyner) Tom DeLay Drops Re-Election Bid — “This is good news all around for the GOP. It helps stop the bleeding caused by the Abramoff scandal and related misdeeds that, even if he had no criminal complicity in, were direct results of decisions made by DeLay. This early in the cycle, there’s still plenty of time to find a clean candidate to replace DeLay as the Republican nominee.” [...]
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DeLay lets down supporters…
From MSNBC… Succumbing to scandal, former Majority Leader Tom Delay told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that he will not seek re-election……
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Let me guess, leaving to spend more time with his family. His family is big too, when you marry your cousin things do get confused.
I guess one of his attnys sat him down and suggested he spend his time trying to avoid a life time in jail rather than just getting reelected.
All the rats are leaving this sinking ship, About the only friend this guy has left is Duke Cunningham.
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DeLay to resign from the House…
The big story of the day is Rep. Tom DeLay’s announcement that he will not seek re-election afterall this fall and will resign from Congress, presumably in May:
WASHINGTON – Succumbing to scandal, former Majority Leader Tom Delay intends to res…
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The DeLay Factor…
It certainly marks the end of an era for a well respected and loyal Republican spanning some twenty one odd years, and marks the fall of “yet another victim of the Democrats’ politics of personal destruction–the only politics they know.”…
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Leaving the house, without Delay…
I have kept quiet on the whole Delay matter till now, as the man deserves his day in court before any presumptions of guilt or innocence, and the truth is too clouded. Some on the left have vilified him fairly mercilessly, and some…
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Leaving the house, without Delay…
I have kept quiet on the whole Delay matter till now, as the man deserves his day in court before any presumptions of guilt or innocence, and the truth is too clouded. Some on the left have vilified him fairly mercilessly, and some…
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