IN WHAT SOUNDS LIKE A PAGE OUT OF THE KATHERINE HARRIS BOOK...

Now-former Congressman Tom DeLay (R - TX) decided to avoid much of the media Tuesday, choosing to speak only with selected "favourite" hosts such as Sam Malone of KTRH Radio and Jon Scott of Fox News Network.

The Houston Chronicle reports this morning that DeLay made no formal public appearances Tuesday, announcing his plans in a video released to news outlets, and in discussions with selected interviewers...He left Fox's Houston studio around 9:30 a.m. in the passenger seat of a gray Lincoln without giving a statement to reporters gathered outside.

He did address a statement to the constitutents of his district, which covers portions of four counties near Houston.

But the Washington Post reports today that behind all the nice words, the man known on the Hill as "The Hammer" was determined to leave only on his terms. According to Carl Forti, Communications Director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, DeLay believed his three GOP challengers in the primary to be gadflies and traitors and he was determined to try to block them from succeeding him. He did that by staying in the race long enough to win the primary.

The man who had been House Majority Leader until forced to resign under the cloud of a felony money-laundering indictment had also experienced frustration at no longer being a part of the House leadership, and his diminished satisfaction with rank-and-file congressional life.

And DeLay realized that winning reelection would be difficult, at best, and would take a great deal of effort and money to do so. Several associates said DeLay was particularly influenced by poll results he received after his victory in the Republican primary on March 7, which made clear that his "negatives" in the district -- a routine tally of voters' emotional hostility toward him -- were high.

His impending legal battle was likely another reason that DeLay decided to remain in office this long, according to John Feehery, a former aide to DeLay and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R - IL) quoted in the Post story:

"He needed to raise money for the defense fund. That was the bottom line," Feehery said. "He wanted to make sure he could take care of himself in the court of law." Under federal campaign rules, any reelection money a lawmaker raises can be used to pay legal fees stemming from official duties.

The associates acknowledged that DeLay made his decision against the backdrop of a felony criminal charge in Texas that is unlikely to be resolved quickly, and amid growing interest by the Justice Department and the FBI in his family finances and the official actions he took at the behest of aides who recently pleaded guilty to involvement in a criminal conspiracy.

But DeLay -- as well as his associates -- said the decision resulted from his desire to avoid a defeat at the hands of voters in his district rather than a calculated effort to deflect any investigation.

DeLay's potential legal challenges have increased in the past three months, as Abramoff, Scanlon and Rudy struck deals with a federal task force to gain reduced prison terms in exchange for their cooperation in a continuing public corruption probe. DeLay alluded in a Time magazine interview this week to being "hit" as a result of Abramoff's guilty plea in January.

As a government official familiar with the investigation said, a noteworthy aspect of the plea deals is the "dramatic premium" the Justice Department evidently places on obtaining information that might implicate others. For DeLay, this official said, "the federal case is going to get worse before it gets better."