Tom DeLay Calls It Quits

Tom DeLay has called it quits and will not seek reelection in November. Thus ends his career as a Congressman and one of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C.

I guess this means that my take on his political demise being greatly exaggerated, was off a bit. It remains to be seen whether he can make an eventual comeback or simply withdraws from public view, though there continues to be a swirl of charges, convictions, and plea deals involving close associates and underlings, which are associated with the ongoing Jack Abramoff investigation.

"He just decided that the numbers and the whole political climate were against him and that it was time to step aside," said one Congressional official with knowledge of Mr. DeLay's plans. The official did not want to be identified because Mr. DeLay's formal announcement was scheduled for Tuesday in Houston.

His decision was first reported Monday by MSNBC and by Time magazine on its Web site, which posted an interview with Mr. DeLay, as did The Galveston County Daily News. "I'm very much at peace with it," Mr. DeLay told Time of his decision.

Mr. Delay, who is serving his 11th term in Congress, told the Galveston paper he planned to step down from his seat by late May or June.

Congressional aides said Mr. DeLay had informed his Texas colleagues and other Republican leaders, including Representative Thomas M. Reynolds of New York, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, as well as President Bush.

One DeLay ally said that the lawmaker had been considering leaving Congress since he gave up his leadership post in January and that he had been persuaded to make the break last week, when his former deputy chief of staff, Tony Rudy, pleaded guilty to corruption charges. He was also said to have been influenced by troubling poll numbers in his district in the Houston area.