Tom DeLay indicted in campaign finance probe

I’m not sure why I’m bothering since the news will be covering this story pretty heavily in a few minutes, I suppose, but the AP is reporting as of a minute ago that DeLay Indicted in Campaign Finance Probe. A Texas grand jury handed down the indictment. New House Majority Leader, please.

Update Sure enough, DeLay has stepped down from his post as majority leader — at least temporarily — and the newspapers are all over it. As usual, Knight Ridder does a good job. (Knight Ridder’s Iraq coverage has been second-to-none, in my opinion). These paragraphs do a nice job of describing the state of the national Republican Party just about now:

It also costs the nation’s governing party its steel hand in the House — he’s nicknamed the “hammer” for his legendary ability to press legislation through — at a time when the party’s agenda has stalled and its leaders appear to be struggling.

President Bush is suffering from record-low popularity, dragged down by anxiety about the Iraq war, anger about gasoline prices, and complaints about the government response to Hurricane Katrina. At the same time, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee faces an initial inquiry from the Securities and Exchange Commission about his sale of stock in a family corporation shortly before it revealed disappointing earnings and lost value.

And conservatives are threatening rebellion against Bush and Congressional leaders over their open-checkbook response to the hurricane.