Tom DeLay cares about raising money from corporate fat cats for his two children's charities. But when it comes to putting his voting record where his wallet is, he comes up with a big ZERO, according to the Children's Defense Fund's new nonpartisan scorecard.

Ken Bode, formerly of CNN and now a journalism professor at DePauw University, pens an oped for the Indianapolis Star that starts out with language from an urgent email alert asking recipients to pray for "Christian statesman" Tom DeLay. It's reminiscent of the statements made by Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation earlier this week that the attacks against DeLay were "spiritual warfare." The op-ed invokes the late Hunter S. Thompson at the end:

A while back, we were nominated as a semi-finalist for the Sandy Koufax Awards in two categories, best single-issue blog and best blog series (for the work on the DeLay Rule). I noted at the time that it was an honor to be listed among the 25 or 30 or so blogs on those lists.

Report from the ground in Houston, day one:

Led by organizer Richard Haas, I got an incredible tour of Tom DeLay’s district and met some great people last night. One thing that struck me driving back to my hotel from Sugar Land last night: Richard set up meetings with doers, not just talkers. The people I met with last night know how many door-hangers and phone calls were made in last year’s election because they made the calls and walked the blocks themselves.

Good caution here in a N.Y. Observer piece by Joe Conason. An excerpt:

Carl Hulse gets a front-page placement in the New York Times again with his coverage of the GOP ethics moves. Here are some excerpts:

The Daily DeLay: T-Minus 4 Days and Counting
DeLay and the Westar Scandal: A Special Interest Fantasy

Tom DeLay and Kansas-based energy company Westar Corporation had a cozy relationship. Too cozy.