Texas Sunset

Politico has a good article this week on Texas' loss of political clout in Washington with Bush leaving office and Democrats strengthening their grip on power in Congress. Embedded in the article is a small piece I wanted to highlight:

And while The Hammer’s redistricting crusade in 2003 certainly helped Texas Republicans at the time, it has come back to haunt the state under Democratic rule. If not for DeLay’s machinations, three Texas Democrats would likely be sitting pretty these days as chairmen of powerful House committees: former Reps. Jim Turner (Homeland Security), Martin Frost (Rules) and Charlie Stenholm (Agriculture).

The "Hammer" is obviously a reference to former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who was from Sugar Land. It was DeLay who mastermined the mid-decade redistricting scheme that led to the ouster of Turner, Frost, and others.

Think about that. If not for DeLay's gross power grab, Texas would now have three homestate reps at the helm of powerful committees. And this does not even include ex-congressman Max Sandlin who may have gotten to head the Ag Approps subcommittee.

That one has come back to bite Texas on the butt, hasn't it? And you know what's telling? I have no doubt that if you asked him, DeLay would do it all over again in the same exact way.