House Win Adds Insult to Injury for DeLay

WP

AUSTIN, Dec. 13 -- Former congressman Ciro Rodriguez's victory in a House runoff election Tuesday in Texas not only allowed Democrats to pick up their 30th seat of the 2006 elections but served as a final rebuke to one of the architects of the Republican House majority: Tom DeLay.

The former congressman from Texas was the mastermind of a 2003 redrawing of congressional lines in the state that led to the removal of six House Democrats in the 2004 elections.

Two years later, DeLay's fortunes have suffered a near-total reversal, as the redistricting map that once seemed certain to cement his legacy and GOP majorities for years has instead led to the end of that career and may well be a building block for a reenergized Democratic Party in the state.

On Nov. 7, a Democrat won the seat vacated by DeLay, and on Tuesday, Rodriguez defeated seven-term Rep. Henry Bonilla in the runoff in Texas's 23rd District. With nearly all precincts reporting in the state's largest district, Rodriguez had won 54 percent of the vote to Bonilla's 45 percent.

"The genius of Tom DeLay is now seriously in question," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. He added that the overall result of the DeLay-led redistricting plan was, "at best, a wash for Texas."...