(April 4, 2006)—President Bush said Tuesday it “had to have been a very difficult decision” for embattled Sugar Land Congressman Tom DeLay to step down.

The President, whom DeLay advised of his plans on Monday, told reporters after a health care panel discussion Tuesday at the White House that he wished DeLay the best and he predicted DeLay's departure won't hurt the Republican Party, calling it "the party of ideas."

Spokesman Scott McClellan said earlier that the White House respected DeLay's decision. He didn't directly answer when asked if the President tried to talk his old Texas ally out of it.

State Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, who led an ultimately unsuccessful Democratic effort to thwart passage of a DeLay-backed congressional redistricting plan, said DeLay’s fall can be traced back to the redistricting fight.

“There is some poetic justice that at the very time the U.S. Supreme Court is considering overturning DeLay’s plan to defeat a half-dozen incumbent Texas Members of Congress, he himself has been forced to quit Congress,” Dunnam said in a prepared release.

In a statement e-mailed Tuesday, Texas Republican Party Chair Tina Benkiser said Texas will “experience a great loss of leadership,” as a result of DeLay’s decision.

She called DeLay “an incredibly effective leader” who has been “a strong and courageous voice for faith, family and freedom.”

She said the Republican Party will move forward to ensure DeLay’s district has a GOP nominee on the ballot in November.

Several Republicans hoping to fill the seat stepped forward quickly Tuesday.

Within hours of DeLay's announcement, they contacted party officials about getting on the November ballot.

Select precinct chairmen from the four counties that comprise DeLay's 22nd Congressional District will choose a nominee to replace him.

DeLay says his resignation will be sometime before mid-June, but it's largely dependent on the congressional calendar.

He said he'll make his northern Virginia condominium his primary residence, which would make DeLay ineligible to run or vote in Texas.

The Democratic candidate is former Congressman Nick Lampson, who lost his seat when DeLay led efforts to redesign the districts in 2004.

Lampson says he'll continue his campaign as planned.

Among the potential candidates are: Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, who worked with Houston's mayor to help the city absorb Hurricane Katrina refugees; and the county's tax collector-assessor, Paul Bettencourt.

Other possible GOP candidates include attorney Tom Campbell, who won about one-quarter of the GOP primary vote against DeLay in the March primary; Republican state Representatives Robert Talton and Charlie Howard; Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace; Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, and former state District Judge John Devine.