But where do you buy a 'See ya, Tom' card?

Whatever your political leanings, you're going to want to mark June 9 on your calendar: It's the day you'll want to get together with friends and have a farewell party for Tom DeLay. Whether you mope or celebrate is your business — but can you think of anything else DeLay has done that has the potential of bringing so many people together? Look out, liquor cabinet!

DeLay wrote House Speaker Dennis Hastert yesterday that June 9 will be his last day in Congress. The former House Majority Leader, you'll remember announced in April that he would step down from his House seat; the couple of months between DeLay's announcement and his actually leaving are letting him work on a couple of things he's interested in, spokeswoman Shannon Flaherty said, including a hearing on the space race with China and a bill regarding the placement of foster children.

Once DeLay leaves the House, the 22nd District will have no representation until Election Day — if he had resigned earlier, a special election could have been scheduled for this weekend, but it ain't happening. Meanwhile, Republican officials are working to pick a candidate for this fall, a process that begins with DeLay moving his permanent residence to Alexandria, Va., so he is officially ineligible to serve as a Texas congressman. Afterward, local precinct chairs will elect a representative from each of District 22's four counties (Harris, Fort Bend, Brazoria and Galveston), and those representatives will, in turn, pick a GOP candidate. There's a long list of interested Republicans, including Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace; Tom Campbell, who ran against DeLay in the primary; and magnificently yellow-haired City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs.