DeLay Doesn't Do It for "Dancing" Ratings

ABC's decision to invite disgraced former House Majority Leader Tom
DeLay to participate in "Dancing with the Stars" may have backfired.

Monday's much ballyhooed ninth-edition debut of the ballroom dance
competition attracted an average audience of 17.5 million viewers,
according to early Nielsen stats.

That's the show's smallest opening audience since its very first year
on the air, when viewers were still getting to know the imported
BBC-produced reality series.

The last two fall editions both opened with more than 21 million
viewers tuned in. Delay's opening numbers are also puny compared to
the more than 20 million people who turned in to the debut in
September of '06, when Jerry Springer was one of the competitors.
DeLay's relationship with "Dancing" dates back to that edition -- he
sent an e-mail blast around America back then, urging people to vote
for one of Springers dance rivals, country crooner Sara Evans, because
she and her GOP-fundraiser husband represented "good American values"
while liberal talk-show host Springer represented the "smut" that
viewers needed to tell Hollywood, in no uncertain terms, "has no place
on television."