Stunner! Tom DeLay's wife Christine to vote for Bob Barr

by Eric Dondero

Tom DeLay has always had a libertarian streak about him. When I worked for Congressman Ron Paul in the middle to late 1990s, Mr. DeLay attended numerous fundraisers for Paul, and even hosted an event or two. He would comment often in his speeches about his own personal "libertarian streak."

DeLay and Ron Paul maintained a close working relationship and personal friendship during their stint together in Congress. DeLay even assisted Paul with Redistricting, and carving out a more favorable 14th District for his friend Ron. (DeLay's and Paul's Districts border each other on the Southeast Texas Coast - Galveston, Clear Lake/NASA area.)

DeLay also had a quite strong libertarian voting record, having scored consistently in the high 80s in the Republican Liberty Caucus index of voting records for years.

Now, it appears DeLay's libertarian streak is really showing, or at least that of his wife Christine. From this morning's Washington Times:

From the Washington Times:

Tom DeLay will vote for John McCain but the former House Republican leader said his wife, Christine, is planning to vote for Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr.

"I'm trying to convince my wife not to do that," the Texas Republican told editors and reporters at The Washington Times on Friday. "She said it publicly yesterday."

Mr. Barr's candidacy is an issue conservatives appear to be grappling with since he won the Libertarian party's nomination on the sixth ballot at their May 25 convention in Denver. Early polls suggest Mr. Barr could draw small but significant support in key states such as Georgia and North Carolina, potentially complicating the electoral picture for Mr. McCain, Republicans' presumed presidential nominee

DeLay has expressed strong reservations about McCain himself, in various interviews in recents weeks. One wonders how strongly DeLay is leaning on wife Christine to come back to the Republican nominee?