Without DeLay

Politics | Who will lead House Republicans into a brutal election season? | Mark Bergin

Mired with accusations and indictments of secret deals and uncouth associations, the congressional elephant is dirty. With Tom DeLay's recent announcement that he will not seek reinstatement as House majority leader, one question defines the race to replace him: Who can best handle the scrub brush?

Acting majority leader Roy Blunt of Missouri claims to hold the bulk of support among the House's 231 Republicans. But Reps. John Boehner (R-Ohio) and John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) show no signs of dropping from the race before the anonymous balloting on Feb. 2.

That internal GOP vote, the kind typically ignored by the public, falls two days after President George W. Bush is slated to deliver his State of the Union address. Such timing lumps the selection of a new majority leader with party efforts to kick off the run-up to November's elections. Indeed, Messrs. Blunt, Boehner, or Shadegg likely hold more power to project a cleaned-up party image than a president still under heavy political fire for domestic wiretapping of those phoned by foreign terror suspects.