Santorum Urges DeLay to Answer Critics.

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), one of Capitol Hill's leading conservatives, warned House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) yesterday that he needs to "lay out what he did and why he did it" if he is going to put an end to questions about his travel and dealings with lobbyists.

Another weekend critic was Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), a frequent DeLay antagonist, who said DeLay should step down. Shays told about 50 people at a town hall meeting in Greenwich on Saturday that he considers DeLay "an absolute embarrassment to me and to the Republican Party."

Shays said, "Do I think Tom DeLay will be the majority leader by the end of this term? No. . . . I don't think Tom DeLay is going to survive."

Santorum . . . has been moderating some of his stands as he gears up for a tough reelection race next year . . . .

"But from everything I've heard, again, from the comments and responding to those, is everything he's done was according to the law," Santorum said. "Now you may not like some of the things he's done. That's for the people of his district to decide, whether they want to approve that kind of behavior or not."

(4-11-05, The Washington Post.)