This season of Dancing With The Stars hasn't premiered yet, but here at TPM we've been keenly following Tom DeLay's progress. Earlier this week we brought you some great photos of the former House majority leader rehearsing with his partner, dancer (and two-time DWTS champ) Cheryl Burke.

So we thought we'd get Burke's thoughts on working with The Hammer.

"Tom is a gentleman and clearly devoted to his family," she told TPM in an email. "He's also a very interesting conversationalist."

Indeed! Like when he converses about, say, President Obama's birth certificate or that town hall where protesters "brought quadriplegics in on gurneys and dumped them on the floor in front of my podium."

"I think that so far Tom has been pretty much on par with the other celebs I've taught in terms of their learning abilities," Burke said. "Ballroom dance isn't easy and so far Tom has been really patient with himself, which is important to getting things accomplished. I think that for a 62- year-old man who hasn't danced in 20 years he's doing a great job."

Burke has been practicing ballroom dance with DeLay for about four hours a day, six days a week. " I think Tom will really master the classic ballroom dances like the Waltz and the Foxtrot," she said.

She also explained what this contraption is for.

"It's to train someone to keep their posture in certain dances. It's not as easy as it looks to keep your arms raised in a ballroom hold throughout the length of a dance," she said.

Dancing With The Stars premieres Sept. 21. We wish both Burke and DeLay the best of luck.