"I would say he is probably the most powerful majority leader in recent history, and maybe ever," Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said of DeLay.

Considered by many to be one of the chief architects of Republican policy in the House, DeLay worked hard to establish a solid conservative bloc within the Republican Caucus. When 1994's "Republican Revolution" vaulted the GOP into control, DeLay rode the tide to become the party whip.

It was in that role he established the hard-nosed style that would earn him the nickname "The Hammer" -- a moniker about which the 10-term congressman has never complained.

"The hammer," he recently told the New York Times, "is the most important tool a builder has."

He has also said his goal as whip and now majority leader has always been to push his party's legislative agenda in the House and not to serve as the GOP's front-man.

"I'm not afraid of getting on television, but at the same time, I don't see my role as the national spokesman for the party," DeLay told Ray Suarez. "I see my role as to get things done, make sure... these bills pass and reflect what the American people want us to do."

On a few occasions his bare-knuckles style has worked against him. In 1998, a story broke that DeLay, along with other Republican leaders, had bullied the Electronic Industries Alliance over its decision to hire former Democratic Rep. David McCurdy to serve as its president. News reports at the time said the GOP leaders in the House went so far at to hold up a vote on an intellectual-property treaty that the EIA wanted and privately blacklisted their representatives as a way of showing their displeasure.

The House Ethics Committee went so far as to chastise DeLay for his role in the situation, but his status as a man to be reckoned with was forever established. The National Journal recently went so far as to call the entire episode "a bit of Machiavellian brilliance."

The fight also left DeLay with a reputation that meant "The Hammer" rarely had to actually nail anyone.

"DeLay has lived off his image, he uses his reputation more often than he uses the hammer," Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) explained recently.

Ideologically, DeLay has always maintained a strong sense of conservative values, believing passionately in limited government, Judeo-Christian faith and minimal taxation. It was these strongly held views that first attracted DeLay to politics and away from a highly successful Houston-area pest control business.

It was as a business owner that DeLay first encountered the bureaucratic system that would drive him into politics. Whether it was the taxes he paid or the environmental regulations by which he had to abide in dealing with pesticides, DeLay saw government as largely unaccountable and unnecessarily intrusive.

"Through increased use of risk assessment and cost-benefit analyses and a moratorium on new regulations, DeLay's goal has been to change the culture of federal regulatory agencies," The 2002 Almanac of American Politics wrote about the congressman.

With this philosophy, DeLay mounted his first political campaign, a race for the Texas state legislature, in 1978. Based on diligent campaigning, DeLay won the race, becoming the first Republican legislator from Fort Bend County, Texas in the 20th century.

He worked as a part-time legislator for the next six years until the area's Democratic congressman left to mount an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate. Seizing his chance, DeLay ran for the open seat. Building on the growing conservative tilt of the 22nd District and Ronald Reagan's dominating presidential reelection campaign, DeLay cruised to an easy victory.

In Congress, DeLay worked with a mix of ideological purity and practical politics. He is a tireless advocate for the space program -- his district borders the Johnson Space Center -- and has worked to improve highways within the Houston area. But in addition to his constituent work, DeLay showed an ability and desire to climb into the party leadership.

In 1989, during only his third term in the House, DeLay used his burgeoning vote-counting skills to manage the campaign of Edward Madigan for House minority whip. Although Madigan lost the election by two votes to another rising star, Georgian Newt Gingrich, DeLay had established himself as an excellent organizer and hard worker.

He took that work ethic into a race for Republican Conference secretary in 1992, meeting with scores of members before ousting the incumbent, Bill Gradison of Ohio, from the post.

Soon after, Republican leader Robert Michel made it clear he would not run for reelection. This triggered a leadership race at many levels. Gingrich announced he would run for leader and DeLay announced he would run for whip, a move that would pit him against the more senior Dick Armey, also of Texas. But everything changed in the election of 1994. The Republicans trounced Democrats, picking up 54 seats and taking control of the House for the first time since 1952.

Gingrich then became the House speaker and Armey cruised into the position of majority leader. But DeLay faced a three-way race between himself, Gingrich friend and ally Robert Walker of Pennsylvania and Bill McCollum of Florida. DeLay again assiduously worked with his Republican colleagues, in particular the newly elected members, discussing their needs and seeking their support. In the end, DeLay walked away with the position, garnering 119 votes to Walker's 80 and McCollum's 28.

"I'm very aggressive. I'm a hard-working, aggressive, persistent whip. That's why I'm whip," DeLay said at the time.

Since DeLay became whip in 1995, Republicans won votes on trade promotion authority, prescription drug legislation and President Bush's tax cut, while losing only a handful of important measures.

But more than just ensuring the votes are there for Republican priorities, experts say DeLay heads the philosophic core of the Republican majority.

"He is in spirit, in emotion, in his own intellect, very much in tune with the 50 or 75 most conservative House Republicans who want a revolution here," Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute told NPR's Weekend Edition in December. "They want to draw some lines in the dust and effect some major changes, and they are ebullient after the election and think they'll be able to do it."

DeLay was born in the border town of Laredo and spent much of his childhood in Venezuela, where his father drilled oil wells. He and his wife have helped raise several foster children and have been active in the Baptist Church in Sugar Land, Texas before he ever entered politics. He is also the father of one daughter, a graduate of Texas A&M.

-- By Lee Banville, Online NewsHour

Nov. 15, 2002:
Shields and Brooks consider the selection of Reps. DeLay and Pelosi to lead their respective parties.

May 28, 1999:
The relationship between DeLay and Hastert is explored in profile of the speaker by Kwame Holman.

Jan. 6, 1997:
Congressman DeLay defends Speaker Gingrich from ethics charges.