Primary is a barometer for DeLay

That was the exhortation from U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, Sugar Land Republican and certified auctioneer, as he squeezed $16,600 from the crowd during a live auction at a Harris County Republican Party dinner last week.

DeLay knew the name of just about every bidder and used rapid-fire, joke-laced persistence to prompt high offers from the crowd. The hubbub even spurred Houston bootmaker Rocky Carroll to chip in five more pairs of handmade boots than he originally had pledged to the auction.

There is no question that DeLay is an able auctioneer, but the bids aren't all in on whether he has sold himself well enough across the 22nd Congressional District to walk off a winner in Tuesday's Republican primary.

"I feel very good," DeLay said at a Galveston County GOP dinner in League City on Thursday. "We've done all we needed to do. We ran a very good, positive campaign."

The 22-year incumbent is favored over three challengers — former schoolteacher Pat Baig, lawyer Tom Campbell and lawyer Mike Fjetland, who have spent the past several weeks crisscrossing the four-county district to find and firm up support.

In a hint of the challenge they face in battling DeLay, the opening prayer from local GOP stalwart Kris Anne Vogelpohl at the League City dinner included these lines: "Especially we pray for Tom DeLay and his family. Please be with him."

Tuesday's primary is a critical juncture for DeLay, for whom the past five months has been a spiral of negative news stemming from legal troubles in Travis County and the bribery investigation of indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a former DeLay ally.

The Travis County indictment, a money-laundering charge stemming from alleged campaign finance violations during the 2002 Texas House races, forced DeLay to give up his powerful position as House majority leader. The post had afforded him almost unbeatable clout on Capitol Hill.

He blames the indictment on what he calls a political vendetta by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat.

Former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier, who has contributed to DeLay in the past, said the race is hard to handicap.

"It is pretty well realized down here that he has strong support and strong opposition," Lanier said.

If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote Tuesday, the top two finishers will meet in an April runoff.

It's unlikely that DeLay will face that situation, said Bob Stein, dean of social sciences at Rice University.

"We know he has done a very retail-oriented campaign, going right to individual voters and surgically finding those who will vote and vote for him," Stein said. "His message is directed at reminding voters what he has done for them."

DeLay's opponents are dividing the anti-DeLay vote and "diluting any chance of defeating him," Stein said.

Since he was elected in 1984, DeLay seldom has faced GOP primary opposition, and he hasn't received less than 80 percent of the vote in a primary. He won re-election in 2004 with 55 percent of the general election vote.

If DeLay prevails on Tuesday, his Democratic opponent in November will be former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, who has raised more than $1.8 million since announcing his candidacy in May. He is unopposed in his party's primary.

Former one-term GOP U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman has filed as an independent. A Libertarian candidate to be nominated at a convention in June also will be on the November ballot.

DeLay raised more than $3.2 million — and spent more than $2 million, about 20 percent on direct mail and telemarketing alone — between Jan. 1, 2005, and Feb. 15, 2006.

Recent campaign finance filings indicate that he took in nearly $137,000 more since then.

He'll rake in even more on primary night, when he is scheduled to attend a Washington fundraiser in his honor, hosted by former Republican Reps. Bill Paxon and Susan Molinari of New York.

Lampson campaign manager Mike Malaise derided DeLay's planned Election Night absence from his district as a "brazen show of arrogance."

Meanwhile, DeLay's Republican opponents kept up their crunch-time campaigning as Tuesday's vote loomed.

On Thursday, Campbell made a late afternoon stop at the Kemah boardwalk amusement area, which is just over the 22nd district line in Galveston County but draws residents of the district.

He talked to each of the 20 or so people who crossed his path, including Clear Lake residents Teresa and Michael French, long-distance drivers for country music bands.

The couple are unsure whom they will support on Tuesday, but Michael French, 51, said he believes that "to be a congressman for 20 or 30 years is ridiculous. You get to where you don't care about what the people want, just politics."

Richard Koons, 44, a League City resident who voted for DeLay in the last election but will not this time around, called the incumbent "true blue," but said that the Travis County charges have neutralized him. "He is ineffective right now," Koons said.

"Every once in a while, you have to sweep the floor," he said. "It gets dirty. If Republicans don't do it ourselves, the Democrats will sweep us out of office."

Early on Friday morning, as the breakfast crowd surged at Bob's Taco Station in Rosenberg, Fjetland deemed the Richmond-Rosenberg area "my side of the district" because he said it is heavily Republican but anti-DeLay.

"A lot of Republicans have told me that they were thankful to have a choice on the ballot," said Fjetland, who contends DeLay has failed the district by opposing transit projects and offering inconsistent support to the Johnson Space Center.

After polishing off a meal at the quirky community social hub, Bill Butler, a real estate developer in Rosenberg and a self-described independent, said the region "is still a Republican area, but you will find a weakness over here" in support for DeLay and the current GOP leadership team.

One reason for that, said Taco Station owner Jose Alanis, is that DeLay is "for Sugar Land people, and we are working-class people. He comes here just to make a show."

On Saturday, Baig journeyed to parts of Missouri City, which she said politicians often overlook.

Those areas lean more Democratic, but Baig said that's no reason to write them off.

Baig said she has picked up individual votes that she says are indicative of farther-reaching support.

Before heading to Rosenberg to talk to residents milling around an outdoor fair at the railroad museum there, Baig drove through an area of Stafford that she said is known as a haven for illegal immigrants.

"What do people not understand about 'illegal'? " said Baig, who wants to see the border patrol beefed up and employers penalized for knowingly hiring illegal workers.

Officials in the DeLay camp said they have encouraged their backers to make a more open show of support.

To that end, Commonwealth resident Bonnie Lugosch dropped by DeLay campaign headquarters last week to pick up her first-ever political yard signs.

She has never considered herself hyperpolitical, but "this one really got to me," she said. "Tom DeLay has done so much for the people of Sugar Land."

"Republicans are running away from him," Lugosch said."That ticked me off. If there is the faintest hint of some kind of scandal, they want to distance themselves. We cannot just have a conciliatory person in Washington."

I talked briefly to this Chronicle reporter at the Galveston County Lincoln Day Dinner. It was clear that she was digging for dirt - but no one was interested in feeding her fantasy. Even the other candidates didn't have much to offer except some stale "sour grapes."

Campbell didn't even show up at the event, even though he was just down the street at the Kemah Boardwalk that afternoon. On a bright, beautiful day he could only find 20 people at the local popular gathering place. He should have been able to talk to 20 people walking in from the rather large parking lot.

"I feel very good," DeLay said at a Galveston County GOP dinner in League City on Thursday.

Galveston County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner photos are now available on-line at the Party web site at:
http://www.GalvestonCountyGOP.com

or at the Lincoln Day Dinner Directory at:
http://www.LincolnDayDinner.com

Wow! He must be some kind of snake oil salesman if he has to fund raise. All the politicians I know are just so damn loved that people are climbing over each other at the post office to mail them their checks.

6 posted on 03/05/2006 5:37:46 AM PST by normy (Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.)

Congressman DeLay was helping raise funds for the local County Republican Party, which doesn't get any money from State or National Republican Parties. Of course the Houston Comical paints it as if DeLay was raising the money for his own campaign at this event, which isn't true. And yes, DeLay's fundraising prowse is considerable here in Texas and elsewhere.

Do not underestimate his Dem. opponent he has sought and received the backing of the Hollywood elite! B.S.herself is giving generously to this local Texas race to help the hapless Democrat candidate N. L..

I am a big time Tom Delay supporter but we have to hit the ground running to beat all the money that bunch is pouring into the "Lamppost" campaign.

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