Does Tom DeLay have two right feet?

We'll find out next month when the former Republican House majority leader competes in the ninth season of ABC's Dancing With the Stars.

DeLay was the most surprising entry among the 16 celebrity dancers announced yesterday on Good Morning America by DWTS host Tom Bergeron. Among the others taking to the dance floor will be model Kathy Ireland, mixed martial arts champion Chuck Liddell, singer Macy Gray, former Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin, Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin, performer Donny Osmond and two showbiz spawn: Kelly Osbourne (daughter of Ozzy) and Ashley Hamilton (son of George, a DWTS contestant in season two).

It may be the most eclectic group ever assembled by the biannual pro-am competition, a show known for its beyond-motley assemblages.

DeLay, indicted in 2005 on a money-laundering charge, will be the first politician to tango on the ABC show. We have had a political commentator, Tucker Carlson, who was the first person eliminated in season three.

The Texas representative known as "The Hammer" for his hardball politics seems unlikely to advance far in the competition unless he shows unexpected athleticism. He joins a tradition of questionable participants like Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and actor John Ratzenberger (Cheers), selected more for their shock value than their dancing dexterity.

Though it's foolhardy to handicap the field before the first fox-trot has taken place, Donny Osmond has been installed as the presumptive early favorite.

The sunny song-and-dance man experienced a career resurgence when his sister Marie competed on the show in season five. As she danced her way to a third-place finish, Donny was suddenly all over the tube, yammering about his sibling's physical challenges and unsinkable spirit.

Don't count on Irvin to garner many viewer votes in the Philadelphia market. He was, after all, an electrifying receiver for the despised Cowboys.

When Irvin sustained a career-ending injury in 1999, lying motionless and perhaps paralyzed on the field at the Vet, Eagles fans lustily cheered his incapacitation. It ranks as one of the ugliest crowd reactions in the annals of professional sports.

Athletes tend to fare well on DWTS, taking home the golden disco ball in five out of eight seasons. That roster of winners includes Irvin's former teammate, Emmitt Smith, season-three champion.

In addition to Coughlin, Liddell and Irvin, the field also holds accomplished snowboarder Louie Vito.

Singers have done considerably worse than jocks on the show. The only vocalist ever to win was Drew Lachey in season two (and calling Lachey a singer is like calling Lorenzo Lamas an actor). Nonetheless, this season boasts a small chorus, including Aaron Carter, Mya and the aforementioned Gray.

Rounding out the field are actresses Debi Mazar and Melissa Joan Hart, TV host Mark Dacascos and model Joanna Krupa. The latter gained notoriety this summer for vigorously disparaging Terrell Owens, her partner on the sports competition show The Superstars.

At the moment, most of the attention and speculation about the coming season of DWTS is being focused on the polarizing politico. But unless the Hammer can move like MC Hammer, he's merely delaying the inevitable.

Contact staff writer David Hiltbrand at 215-854-4552 or dhiltbrand@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/daveondemand.