Former House Majority Leader has gone to great lengths in recent television and radio appearances to go on the offensive in a bid to stave of charges leveled against him in Wednesday's indictment. Yesterday, for instance, DeLay claimed to have proof of a vast Democratic conspiracy to defame him, though refused to provide a shred of evidence.

Now, as The Houston Chronicle's Janet Elliott reports, one of DeLay's central lines of defense has been seriously called into question by both the foreman of the jury and DeLay's own lawyer.

The day after U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's grand jury indictment, his lawyer and the jury foreman on Thursday appeared to contradict the Texas politician's assertions that he was not given a chance to speak before the jury.

The foreman, William M. Gibson Jr., a retired state insurance investigator, said the Travis County grand jury waited until Wednesday, the final day of its term, to indict him because it was hoping he would accept jurors' invitation to testify.

DeLay said in interviews that the grand jury never asked him to testify.

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Dick DeGuerin, the attorney representing DeLay, said Thursday that DeLay actually was invited to appear before the grand jury, where he would have been under oath. The Houston attorney was not yet on the legal team when DeLay was asked to appear, but he said other attorneys advised him not to testify — a decision DeGuerin supports.

If DeLay truly believes that his best line of defense is a massive media blitz, he would be well served to both get his facts in line and his message squared with his lawyers.