Tom Delay thinks Hillary Clinton will be the next President....

DeLay expecting to see a second President Clinton

By Dave Boyer - "The Philadelphia Inquirer"

Former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the bogeyman of Democrats everywhere, brought good news to Democratic Philadelphia Monday night:

He still believes Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D., N.Y.) will win the presidency next year, thanks to her organization and Republicans' disarray.

"The Democrats have been very good at building one of the most powerful
coalitions I've ever witnessed, very well-financed, very well-coordinated,"

DeLay told an audience of more than 200 at the National Constitution Center.

"It all belongs to Hillary Clinton. That's why she'll be the next president of
the United States, especially if the Republicans don't get their act together.
And I don't see that they are."

DeLay, in town to promote his memoir No Retreat, No Surrender, is one of the most relentless fund-raisers in GOP history. And raising the specter of Hillary Clinton has, for years, been one of the Republican Party's most reliable fund-raising ploys. So there's always the chance that the former Texas congressman is engaged in an ongoing attempt to scare up donations for GOP campaign coffers.

But there also was a tone of grudging admiration in the comments of DeLay, who says the problem with politics is that there's not enough money in it. Since he resigned from Congress in 2006 under indictment for a fund-raising scheme in Texas, he's been researching the opposition. Although Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) has a slim lead over Clinton in fund-raising, DeLay is more impressed with the network of influential Clinton allies working hard to expand the Democratic Party and raise money for her campaign.

"I'm not criticizing it,"

DeLay said.

"I'm a big believer in organization and funding. And they are so well-organized.
We [Republicans] have no organization at all, especially since Mehlman left."

(Ken Mehlman stepped down as chairman of the Republican National Committee at the end of last year.)

DeLay has predicted a Clinton win before, but said the fund-raising results so far this year had made clear to him that "Republicans are doing nothing."

As for GOP presidential candidates, DeLay said nobody in the race excited him. Nor does former Sen. Fred Thompson, who is expected to formally announce his candidacy soon.

"People don't know who Fred Thompson is, other than he's an actor,"

DeLay said.

"I don't know who he is. He was a good senator; he voted by and large
conservatively, but he wasn't a leader. He had no real cause." Thompson served
as a Tennessee senator from 1994 to 2003.