Not so long ago, there was no such thing as a Republican office holder in Texas. Every state wide and local election was decided in the Democrat primary. The general election was an after thought. This was the case for 100 years following Reconstruction. There were several factions of Democrats who all hated one another, so "political enemies" in the same party were common place.
As a fanatic partisan, Ronnie Earle would go after his adversaries, even if they were fellow dims. Now it's different. Earle is only interested in abusing his office to attack Republicans. He knows he can't convict Delay, but he hopes to damage him nationally and make himself a hero to the dim nutjobs in the process.
Earle is a two bit political hack. He could not be elected to so much as dog catcher anywhere in Texas, except Austin.
That much is true. Tom DeLay said on H&C tonight that the GOP has been growing by leaps and bounds in Texas for the last 20 years or so. I suspect this indictment might also be connected to the remapping of the districts in Texas, which is also a bunch of baloney.