More interesting than the Chron's endorsement of Dan Morales is their strange silence regarding the Republican primary for US House District 22, which is Tom DeLay's home base. Their master list of endorsements from last week includes a pick in the District 22 Democratic primary, but as of today they've not given their blessing to either DeLay or challenger Michael Fjetland.

You may say that the Chron has better things to do than to waste ink on a race between a longtime officeholder who's never been seriously challenged for reelection and a no-name opponent with an axe to grind. (*) Maybe, but the Chron did bother to endorse Sheila Jackson Lee against her community-activist opponent. Why Sheila and not Tom?

The Chron has bashed DeLay several times in recent memory, mostly for his anti-rail stances. That sort of thing has never before stopped them from lining up behind a well-known incumbent, especially one who is a strong ally of a member of the Bush family. Maybe I'm reading too much into this. Maybe they haven't gotten to it yet. Whatever the reason, I find it odd.

(*) - Fjetland ran against DeLay in 2000 and got 17% of the vote in the primary. Later, he sent a letter to DeLay saying he wouldn't run against him if DeLay helped him get a job in the Bush administration. Apparently, he wanted to be US Trade Representative, or US Ambassador to the United Nations. You know, something small. DeLay, not too surprisingly, put this request in the round file. All this is in today's Voter's Guide section, whose online version is either infuriatingly slow or down.