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Thursday, July 06, 2006

TX-22: No Escape For Tom DeLay

Posted by James L.

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in! -- The Godfather Part III

From the Houston Chronicle:

A federal judge ruled today that Republicans cannot replace former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay on the ballot for the 22nd Congressional District race.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, a Republican appointee, ruled that DeLay must appear on the Nov. 7 ballot as the GOP nominee for the congressional seat that DeLay abandoned last month. Sparks ruling was confirmed by Texas Democratic Party spokeswoman Amber Moon.

Wow. What was widely seen as a legal stall tactic to temporarily block the TX GOP from replacing Tom DeLay with a less radioactive candidate on the ballot this November has turned out to be the real deal. We'll have to wait and see what the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has to say about this, but a lot of damage is done already: if DeLay comes back to campaign in TX-22 (which he recently murmured that he's willing to do), not only will he have to reassemble his field and campaign team, but he'll also face an awfully awkward homecoming from his temporary escape to Virginia. What does it say to voters in his district when only a court order is enough to get him to step back into the state of Texas? It's not exactly flattering, to say the least.

Even if this decision is overturned by the appeals process, the Republicans will have lost months of valuable campaign time--time that genuine nice guy and proud Texan Nick Lampson won't waste.

Posted at 12:56 PM in 2006 Elections - House, Texas | Technorati

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Comments

I was just about to post on this too.

DeLay should have "moved" to another nation. Or farther east than Virginia.

Posted by: RBH at July 6, 2006 01:29 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Damn, I was going to use that Godfather quote in a post about this.

Posted by: KCinDC at July 6, 2006 01:40 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

That is great news, but as a "Godfather" savant, I must insist you get the quote right.

It is "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"

Posted by: Nick Alex at July 6, 2006 03:24 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Gasp! The horror!

Fixed. Thanks, Nick.

Posted by: James L. at July 6, 2006 04:35 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

lol can also be attributed to Seinfeld.

Posted by: jkfp2004 at July 7, 2006 12:14 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

If Delay goes down at the ballot box I will be so happy!

Posted by: D in FL. at July 7, 2006 12:16 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

The best part of the story is the Texas GOP were the one's that had this moved to federal court because they thought the Dems were cherrypicking a "liberal state court" for their "frivilous" claims.

check the story here

Posted by: Nick Alex at July 7, 2006 10:12 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment