DeLay, a Headliner in Austin

"Grand jury indicts DeLay lieutenants," according to the Austin Statesman-American. The Statesman plays up the DeLay angle because (1) it's a Democrat mouthpiece and (2) it harbors special ill-will toward DeLay, who is the Darth Vader of Texas politics, according to the left.

Go below the headline and you read this:

Following the Republican sweep of the 2002 elections [for State-wide offices], [Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat], began investigating allegations that Republicans and their business allies used unprecedented amounts of corporate cash to affect the elections.

State law generally prohibits using corporate or labor union money for political purposes except to pay for the administrative expenses of a political action committee.

There are two things going on here: a political vendetta and the suppression of political speech. The latter is just as bad in Texas as it is in D.C., thanks to decades of Democrat control of the Texas legislature.