Time magazine reports that Tom Delay will run for the former Texas House seat from which he retired in disgrace earlier this year — if a court ruling that his name must remain on the ballot stands.

This would set up a battle royale between the redistrict-er and the redistrict-ed. DeLay’s opponent would be Demcrat Nick Lampson, a former House member whose district DeLay ‘disappeared’ through partisan gerymandering. May the best former Representative win.

Disgraced former House Leader Tom must remain as the GOP candidate on the Sugarland, Texas, ballot, because he won the party’s primary, a Texas judge has ruled.

This is a gift-wrapped pony for Democrat Nick Lampson, who will now either run without serious opposition, against write-in candidates, or against DeLay, who has already retired.

The former House leader, reverting to “Hot-Tub-Tom” form, during an auction of a sheared beaver-fur vest:

“Who wants a beaver?”

“Everybody likes beaver, even women.”

“The best thing about it, it’s a shaved beaver!”

“They don’t have beaver like this down in North Carolina.”

Tom DeLay accuses Cynthia “Cop-Slapper” McKinney of ” incredible arrogance.”

Disgraced former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, wary of losing in 2006, has bowed out on his own terms — striking a blow to Democratic hopes for a November to remember.

With DeLay gone, and Cunningham and Abramoff off to the slammer, the Republican Culture of Corruption lacks an employed poster boy. Maybe Bill Frist’s insider trading scandal will flare up again . . .

Honestly, DeLay’s resignation smacks of a pre-emptive strike. There’s got to be another shoe out there, ready to drop. My guess is that its a big one, one that links DeLay directly to the Abramoff scandal, one that’s sure to drop within weeks if not days. Else why drop out now — within a month of winning his Texas primary race? How is this supposed to help the GOP preserve his House seat?

The Time piece that broke the story has a priceless detail that captures everything that’s dirty about Tom DeLay.

DeLay brushed off the torrent of investigative news articles questioning the funding behind the golf, private planes and resort hotels that marked his travel at home and abroad. He even accepted a plane from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco to go to his arraignment. “There’s nothing wrong with it,” he said. “They had a plane available. My schedule was such that I couldn’t do it commercially — that I had to get up there and then get back and do my job. And that’s the only plane that was available at the time.”

Here’s a man — a public servant who claims to live a modest Christian live — who also believes its his God given right to travel like a rockstar on a corporate jet. Good riddance.

Poor Tom DeLay. The indicted felon can no longer pack heat in Texas. (Hat Tip: TP)

Poor Tom DeLay. The indicted felon can no longer pack heat in Texas. (Hat Tip: TP)