Three cheers for the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus, who definitely understands what's going on. In "Derail These Fundraisers," she puts her finger precisely on what is so corrupt about Washington's pay-to-play culture, and why real reform is needed, and could make a big difference.

"The election process has turned into an incumbency protection process in which lobbyists attend PAC fundraisers to raise money for incumbents so they can drown potential opponents, thus creating war chests that convince candidates not to run and freeing up incumbents to spend more time in Washington PAC fundraisers. So, in effect, this city is building a wall of money to protect itself from America."

The Department of Justice's document outlining the charges (pdf) against Jack Aramoff include this:

Where Tom DeLay spends his donors money, courtesy of an AP graphic designer:

(From Juanita.)

We don't fundraise often at the Daily DeLay, but today we're making an exception. The public needs to know about corrupt politicians and we plan to tell them -- in targeted districts around the country in 2006.

Recently released Abramoff email messages indicate that DeLay, via a phone call from the Majority Leader himself, demanded a $25,000 contribution for a GOP dinner from one of Abramoff's tribal clients. Abramoff passed on this message to the client and, voila, the money was donated within hours.

DeLay's ties to Abramoff are expanding from golfing and lavish trips to including the Majority Leader demanding money for GOP events and fundraisers (which is what the Justice Department and Senate investigators are looking at as well).

A colleague of mine asked me today if I had any insight into what happens inside Tom DeLay's head. I started thinking..........

I'm Tom DeLay. I was indicted on money laundering charges stemming from moving $190,000 in corporate campaign contributions, and earlier today a judge just said that I had to stand trial for the crime. What do I do now?

I know! Hold a fundraiser with Vice President Dick Cheney!

Samantha Levine of the Houston Chronicle profiles all the former DeLay aides who are repaying the indicted former Majority Leader with cash at tonight's fundraiser. Also, Public Citizen is holding a protest outside -- if you're in DC, near 101 Constitution Ave, attend from 5:30 to 6:30 and bring your own sign.

PoliticalMoneyLine has DeLay's host committee:

DeLay’s Fundraising Host Committee
11/15/2005 11:32:53 AM

The headline of this blog posting will tick off Ohio Congresswoman Deborah Pryce (R). She's the one, a week ago or so, called disgraced lobbyist and DeLay-pal Jack Abramoff, who told the Columbus Dispatch, "We think he is a creep, and we hate him."