Tom DeLay says he'll resign

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, whose political career has been battered by scandal surrounding lobbying and ethics violations in Congress, has said he will not seek re-election in November.

"My constituents don't deserve this. They deserve a Republican," DeLay told FOX News in an exclusive interview Tuesday morning.

While DeLay has not yet been implicated in the pay-to-play scheme that has brought several indictments and plea deals, many of his closest associates have been dragged into the fray. Tuesday, DeLay dismissed the idea that he would be implicated.

"The [Jack] Abramoff investigation has nothing to do with me," DeLay said.

DeLay said that he decided not to run after taking into account the "the interest of the conservative cause and the Republican majority," which he said he was more interested in than his own future. He said the campaign in his Houston district has become "very nasty."

"Every leftist organization in America is down here," DeLay said.

And asked if Ronnie Earle � the Texas prosecutor who has put DeLay in his investigative crosshairs � has won, DeLay said that he might have won this battle, but "in the end, we're going to give him a pretty good Texas whopping."