I wrote yesterday that he was. Here’s why I think so.

Tom DeLay will be eventually exonerated, no question. Ronnie Earle has no evidence. In order to prove the money-laundering charge that Judge Pat Priest let stand, he will have to prove that DeLay and his co-defendants obtained corporate soft-money donations and sent them to the RNC in Washington with the intent of converting them into hard-money donations. But when asked to produce the central piece of evidence referenced in the indictment, Earle couldn’t. Even if this goes to trial in Austin and some crackpot liberal jury convicts DeLay, he will win out on appeal. This is still a trumped-up charge, regardless of how Priest ruled yesterday.

Nevertheless, DeLay only has one chance to get the money-laundering charge dismissed before it goes to trial. Judge Priest has still not held a hearing on whether to dismiss on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct. Even though the sequence of events leading to the second indictment was highly irregular, I don’t think Priest will dismiss on these grounds. According to the Austin American-Statesman, Priest has already expressed hostility toward the idea of putting “grand jurors on the stand to testify about secret grand jury proceedings.” He doesn’t seem favorable to the idea of putting Ronnie Earle on trial, figuratively speaking, even though that’s exactly what should happen.

The Houston Chronicle is reporting today that DeLay’s legal team will be asking Priest to hear new motions to dismiss next week, which could indicate that DeLay’s team will ask Priest to throw out the charges based on the lack of evidence. But Priest appears to have his mind made up. It looks like this is going to trial.

According to numerous press reports, the House GOP wants to elect a new majority leader if DeLay isn’t free and clear of all this by the time Congress returns in January. If he goes to trial on money-laundering charges, he won’t be. Ronnie Earle will drag this thing out as long as he can. Judge Priest has already said, “This is not the only thing on my plate.” It’s not fair, but it’s reality.