It's primary season!

1. A couple days late, the Chronicle noticed that DeLay has retaken his seat on Appropriations and the subcommitees that do NASA and Homeland Security.

2. USNews reports that DeLay does not plan to return to the House leadership if he is acquitted in the TRMPAC charges. A smart move for the campaign:

Associates said that DeLay instead will use his position on the Appropriations Committee to boost NASA spending, especially for his hometown Johnson Space Center in Houston, and will move back into the unofficial post as head of the Texas House delegation.

DeLay may get some flak for being preoccupied with national issues, but it'll be tough to say that replacing him would bring the district more clout on local issues.

3. From the Hotline:

One campaign's internal polling shows Campbell trailing DeLay by only 10 points.

Around 6am this morning I put an email in to Campbell's campaign, but I have yet to hear back from them.

Color me skeptical. This was the day when Campbell went on the air. At that time, the media coverage in the district was rather light, and Campbell hadn't dropped any direct mail pieces (still hasn't, though a commenter suggests that there will be one dropping this week). So -- barring every other consideration -- how would Campbell be able to get name ID to be within ten points of DeLay?

Given that I've only seen this in the Hotline, it makes me wonder whether perhaps Lampson's campaign provided the poll to the Hotline. They would be more likely to have the DC connections to do so. If so...interesting. Playing in the other party's primary is brilliant when you pull it off (see South, Garry), but hazardous when you don't. But who knows, it's all speculation.

Or it could just be a rehash of the Chronicle's recent poll. If you're here, you probably know I think that poll was flawed, and I'd expect the Hotline to be more savvy in noticing that it was the Chronicle's poll. Who knows?

4. Al Franken's new PAC gave Lampson money. I bet this is not the last time we hear of this from DeLay's camp.