R.G. Ratcliffe reports in tomorrow morning's issue of the Houston Chronicle that big news should arrive soon regarding the House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay of Texas. Though some might be discouraged by the fact that the House Ethics Panel has dealt so poorly with its investigations of DeLay, it looks like a Texas District Attorney was not nearly as lax. Ratcliffe writes under the headline "Action awaited in GOP probe" thusly:

A Travis County grand jury investigating Republican political spending in the 2002 state House races ends its term today, and lawyers involved in the case are bracing for it to take action.

A Travis County grand jury investigating Republican political spending in the 2002 state House races ends its term today, and lawyers involved in the case are bracing for it to take action.

[...]

Even though the current grand jury term is ending, prosecutors could hand the case off to a new grand jury.

Ratcliffe explains that insiders don't expect an indictment of DeLay as the Grand Jury primarily focused on TRMPAC, a Political Action Committee formed by DeLay. How this distinction is made baffles me, but I am not a legal expert--especially when it comes to Texas elections law. It is disappointing, though, because it looks like DeLay might be getting off scot-free for pretty egregious actions.

Nonetheless, we don't know how the Grand Jury is going to rule in this case. If they indeed end up indicting the Majority Leader--which might be unlikely, but is still very possible--the political repercussions could be immense and we could realistically see the Democrats retake the US House for the first time in a decade. One can only hope...