Remember This Name

For those of us who are political junkies, Jack Abramoff is a familiar name and we have been following his story for some time. For those few people who actually have lives and don't know who he is, let me bring you up to speed because you will begin hearing his name a lot and he could shape the 2006 elections.

Jack Abramoff was a powerful and influential DC lobbyist. He represented the Indian casinos and supposedly funneled money and other gifts into the hands of a couple dozen members of Congress to gain access and influence. Some of you are thinking so what, this happens all the time so what's the big deal? The big deal is that the justice department has recently reached a plea agreement with him to find out who he gave these gifts to and what he received in return. When this happens you are going to see members congress running to the hills to avoid this scandal.

There is already a sense that Congress is ripe with corruption and scandal. First it was Tom Delay being indicted for laundering money into Texas political races. Then Duke Cunningham pleaded guilty to accepting bribes for directing defense contracts to certain businesses. Now Abramoff comes along and he creates the perfect tri-fecta. Democrats are already playing the scandal card and it seems to be working.

In 1994 Republicans made corruption in Congress a key component of their contract with America. They seized upon the public's mistrust of politicians and were able to take back Congress for the first time in 50 years. The problem is that some Republicans have become the corrupt politicians they ran against in the first place. Now we will see if the Democrats can turn the tables.

One interesting thing to watch is whether any Democrats get named by Abramoff. I am already hearing that both parties may get caught up in this saga which would make it a little bit difficult for Democrats to claim the high ground without be hypocritical. But hey that's never stopped them before.

Stayed tuned. This story is just beginning to get to interesting.