THIS Texas Democrat certainly takes joy in DeLay's departure because I believe he's an unethical criminal. I would quite literally crack open a bottle of Cristal if Kay Bailey Hutchison went away, too. She's solid, however, and isn't going anyplace. And I believe she works hard at toeing the ethical line and watching her Ps and Qs, so she won't ever be in the same type of legal/criminal trouble he is.

Unfortunately, the outlook to replace either of them with a Democrat seems hopeless. Our party truly can't seem to unite itself and pull its message together enough to make any headway, and this is an increasingly hard state to make Democratic headway in anyway. I don't expect that to change in this next election--or in the next national one, either.