On January 12th I stated that DeLay was toast–and now it has come to pass: (via WaPo) DeLay to Resign From Congress.

Of course, I thought that he would eventually lose at the ballot box, although a resignation isn’t, per se, a shock.

The timing, however, is odd for his party, insofar as Texas already held its primary almost a month ago. As such, the following statement has a somewhat hollow ring (as quoted in this piece from the AP, DeLay calls it quits):

“My love for the Republican Party has played no small part in this decision,” he said, adding he wanted a House race in his district based on issues “not a campaign focused solely as a referendum on me.”

DeLay and his wife sat for an interview with Time, which can be found here. In the piece there is an indication that the party can choose his replacement:

TIME: Is the candidate likely to be one of the other three Republicans from the primary?

DeLay: No. (Smiles)

TIME: Who’s the candidate likely to be?

DeLay: We’ve got some really great elected officials here—state reps, state senators, local and county judges. We’ve got plenty to choose from, and we don’t have to choose from my primary opponents?

TIME: Do you know who it will be?

DeLay: I’m not going to play kingmaker. I’ll let the party —it’s a party process. And the party ought to make the decision.

I will be most curious as to what the laws of the state and rules of the party are on this topic. I hope that it is not another New Jersey/Torecelli/Lautenberg situation where a disgraced incumbent withdraws post-primary and then the party has to bend the rules to replace him. There is something wholly distasteful about a candidate pursuing a nomination, then realizing due to his/her own scandals that he/she cannot win and therefore shouting “do over” and letting a replacement candidate to be hand-selected by the party when there exists a primary process for that purpose.

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