35Pete
March 8th, 2006, 6:31:41 AM
Rep. Tom DeLay Wins Texas Primary
HOUSTON (AP) -- In his first election since he was indicted and forced to step aside as majority leader, Rep. Tom DeLay held off three challengers to keep the Republican nomination to the U.S. House. Now he faces what many consider the real contest - a general election fight against an organized, well-funded Democrat with a score to settle.
Nick Lampson, who was unopposed in Tuesday's primary, represented a district adjacent to DeLay's for four terms until it was redrawn in a redistricting plan engineered by DeLay. Lampson lost in 2004 to Republican Ted Poe.
DeLay, 58, held on to his ballot position by avoiding public discussions of his considerable political problems - a felony money-laundering indictment, close ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the loss of his leadership position.
Instead, DeLay campaigned at carefully orchestrated events, avoided direct interviews with reporters and largely focused on his hometown of Sugar Land. It paid off with a 2-to-1 victory margin over lawyer Tom Campbell, who had ties to the first President Bush's administration, and two other candidates.
"That was an effective strategy to get through the primary," said political scientist Cal Jillson of Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "But in the general election, he'll have to face Lampson and Steve Stockman, as well as the press, both local and national."
Stockman, a former Republican congressman, is considering running as an independent.
"Democrat attacks and the politics of personal destruction were heavily used by my opponents in this Republican primary, and they were rejected just like they will be in November," DeLay said in a statement.
...more....
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TEXAS_PRIMARY?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-03-07-23-29-05
HOUSTON (AP) -- In his first election since he was indicted and forced to step aside as majority leader, Rep. Tom DeLay held off three challengers to keep the Republican nomination to the U.S. House. Now he faces what many consider the real contest - a general election fight against an organized, well-funded Democrat with a score to settle.
Nick Lampson, who was unopposed in Tuesday's primary, represented a district adjacent to DeLay's for four terms until it was redrawn in a redistricting plan engineered by DeLay. Lampson lost in 2004 to Republican Ted Poe.
DeLay, 58, held on to his ballot position by avoiding public discussions of his considerable political problems - a felony money-laundering indictment, close ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the loss of his leadership position.
Instead, DeLay campaigned at carefully orchestrated events, avoided direct interviews with reporters and largely focused on his hometown of Sugar Land. It paid off with a 2-to-1 victory margin over lawyer Tom Campbell, who had ties to the first President Bush's administration, and two other candidates.
"That was an effective strategy to get through the primary," said political scientist Cal Jillson of Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "But in the general election, he'll have to face Lampson and Steve Stockman, as well as the press, both local and national."
Stockman, a former Republican congressman, is considering running as an independent.
"Democrat attacks and the politics of personal destruction were heavily used by my opponents in this Republican primary, and they were rejected just like they will be in November," DeLay said in a statement.
...more....
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TEXAS_PRIMARY?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-03-07-23-29-05