Today is the big day: House Republicans will vote on which version of DeLay-ism will be their new majority leader: Roy Blunt (R-MS), John Boehner (R-OH), or John Shadegg (R-AZ).

If you haven't yet seen the ads on these characters, click here.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says lobbying reform won't cure what ails Washington, as reported here in the Washington Times. McCain points his finger at a "corrupt" Federal Elections Commission and at the congressional practice of "earmarking" pork projects in federal legislation.

"To the Point" with Warren Olney was tons of fun. I went on right after Rep. Dreier.

$35,000, apparently.

John B. Judis at The New Republic has a good piece on just how much Roy Blunt learned from Tom DeLay about money and politics:

"[Blunt]" owes his rise in the House to the Texas congressman. But he may also one day blame DeLay for his fall, because DeLay appears to have taught him not only how to count votes and woo lobbyists, but arguably how to play fast and loose with campaign finance ethics....

Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2 (both large PDFs) from Sen. McCain's hearings on the Abramoff/Scanlon/Reed/DeLay/Norquist scandals involving $82 billion in bilked fees from six Native American tribes.

Sound like a bad joke? Welcome to the wonderful world of superlobbyist Jack Abramoff. Yesterday, during a Senate hearing looking into Abramoff's lobbying practices with American Indian tribes, Sen. McCain and Sen. Dorgan explored two issues: Abranoff's request to a rabbi for a phony award and the creation of an “international think tank.”

This may be a little afield from the general focus on money in politics and ethics, but I thought this was good to share...

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay appeared on the Sean Hannity show, guest hosted by Ollie North, no less, and blasted critics of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. From conservative NewsMax.com:

It is early in the week to have loose ends, so I wanted to make sure I tied them all up -- there were a few news items from last week and over the weekend to note. Here goes:

Watchdogging the Ethics Process