Free Republic

"I'm like a cemetery — I'll take anything!" 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 prayer asked for blessings for the soldiers serving in Iraq, the president and the Republican Party cause. There was even a request for a divine blessing for Tom DeLay. His opponents say that with just a few days left before Tuesday’s primary election, the embattled congressman needs all the help he can get — heavenly or otherwise. But across the room of the Galveston County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner, few seemed worried that once the ballots were counted Tuesday night DeLay would be anything other than the party’s pick to return to Washington. “Mr. DeLay will absolutely...

Sugar Land Republican Tom DeLay will face opposition in the GOP primary this March from a challenger he's defeated three times. Attorney Michael Fjetland, who has run against DeLay as a Republican and an independent, has officially filed in the 2006 GOP primary for the 22nd Congressional District. DeLay defeated Fjetland in the 2000 and 2002 Republican primaries. Fjetland ran as an independent in 2004, in an attempt, he said, to win over moderate Republicans who weren't inclined to vote for a Democrat, even if they weren't happy with DeLay. Fjetland earned 1.3 percent of the vote. He fared better...