Well, Tom Delay has certainly made a clumbsy exit from the Congress.

His strongly Republican district in SW and south Houston is without representation and dear Tom has basically handed it to the Democrats.

When Gelay retired from Congress in June, he moved his official residence to Virginia. Of course, his wife and house are still in Houston. By resigning (after he ran in and won the primary in March), he had planned that the Republican party would get to pick someone to take his spot on the ballot in November. The party could then pick his successor (how democratic is that?).

But, here we are after a few court decisions and the ruling is that Delay, since he ran in and won the primary, will have his name left on the ballot. His Democrat opponent, Nick Lampson will be the only serious candidate on the ballot.

Delay argued that since he has "offocially" moved to Virginia, he should be taken off the ballot. However, Texas law states that he cannot be declared ineligible for the post. The wording in the law is that eligibility is determined on election day. The law is worded strangely, but that is what it is.

The only way for Delay to be ineligible and get off the ballot is to be ineligible on election day. By then it is too late to get off the ballot! It is kind of a modern day Catch-22.

The only way the Democrat can loose would be for a write-in campaign to be successful (unlikely) or for people to go ahead and vote for Delay and, if he won, for the party to name a successor.

If Delay had just refused to run in the primary, someone else would have won the primary and would be on the ballot in November.

Delay, the egotistical, arrogant jerk has screwed his constituents!