Shays vs. DeLay: Steel cage death match?

Josh Marshall takes further something I'd been thinking about last month -- that Chris Shays's political future depends on him taking a strong, and very public position against DeLay's continued leadership of House Republicans. Basically, Marshall suggests that Shays has come to the conclusion that Washington DC ain't big enough for him and Tom DeLay.

He quotes from a recent Greenwich Time article (Greenwich, CT is the creamy nugat Republican center of Shays's otherwise heavily Democratic district):

Though topics at yesterday's 90-minute discussion covered illegal immigration, the war in Iraq, social security and the environment, Shays and audience participants and Shays spoke most passionately about DeLay and ethics.

"Do you feel that Tom DeLay is . . . dangerous because of his attitude toward the judicial (branch of government), and what effect will all this have on the Supreme Court nominees?" asked Greenwich resident Dr. Donald Dworken, 75.

Town resident John Howard, 39, said he has supported Shays in the past and knows that the congressman is not a defender of DeLay. Even so, Howard said, he wouldn't continue to support Shays if he voted to keep DeLay in power.

"I was very proud of you for standing up to the Republican caucus," Howard said. "However, you do vote for the Republican leadership in Congress -- and you must know that you have a lot of constituents, like myself, who deeply respect you, and agree with you on many different issues -- but I can't vote for a congressperson who would vote to keep Tom DeLay in power. You must understand that he's a liability for you."

Shays has long been a maverick Republican, but in the last election, voters in his district sent a very loud message that even though they know he is not a "DeLay Republican," as his opponent branded him, by simply being a House Republican he is aiding and abetting Tom DeLay and the rest of the extremists (and by "extremist," I mean the Republican Party) in Congress.