DeLay's Political Death Greatly Exaggerated

With 86 percent of the 216 precincts reporting in congressional District 22, which includes all of Fort Bend County and part of three other Houston-area counties, DeLay had 62 percent of the votes, allowing him to win the GOP nomination outright without a runoff. His closest GOP opponent, Tom Campbell, had 30 percent, followed by Mike Fjetland with 4.7 percent and Pat Baig with 3.3 percent.

That's not just winning, that's a landslide win in the primary election. So much for claims that all the swirling accusations about Abramoff and the Earle investigations hurting DeLay's reelection chances. While he won the primary, it doesn't mean that his reelection in the general elections is assured:

DeLay -- under criminal indictment on a money-laundering charge; rebuked three times by the House ethics committee; and linked to former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to political corruption charges -- faced his toughest primary race in his 22-year congressional career. Although he spent about $2 million, DeLay ran a low-profile primary campaign, focusing on reaching the most dedicated voters through direct-mail pitches and phone calls. He did not run any radio or television ads, reflecting the campaign's belief that they would heighten the profile of the GOP primary and bring out anti-DeLay voters.

That shows what saavy political advice will do for an experienced politician.

Sundries Shack isn't enthralled with DeLay but was happy that voters saw through the sham prosecutions by Earle. I agree.

Outside the Beltway also notes the election result, and finds that DeLay can still be a jerk (as if that was ever in doubt?)

UPDATE:
Rhymes with Right also notes the doom and gloom predictions before the election today and breaks down the election:

Delay has always had about 15% of the district Republicans opposing him. That is how a non-entity like Fjetland did as well as he did in his earlier races against DeLay. We also had a heavy cross-over vote this time around -- I recognized about 10% of those at my precinct as partisan Democrats. After all, when you ask someone if they are coming to vote in the Republican primary and get a response like "Never before, never again, but this time yes," you can be pretty sure that they are not a part of the GOP base.

But I do think there is 20% of the GOP base that opposed Tom DeLay because of his legal troubles, wanting a solid GOP candidate like Campbell to ensure that the seat will be held by a Republican in the event that DeLay's legal troubles continue or get worse. Most of this last group will support Tom DeLay in November.

And the remaining 62%? We don't want outsiders picking our Congressman for us. We don't care if it is Ronnie Earle, the Democrat National Committee, or these guys.