No Skins? Back to Abramoff!

THERE'S NOTHING LIKE a good scandal to bring out the reformists in Washington. The Jack Abramoff scandal (isn't there a better word for this scandal) has Republican lawmakers reeling. Now everyone wants to clean up the lobbying mess. The Republicans are actually trying to take the lead on the cleanup efforts (probably a good move considering elections are just around the corner). But as John Judis effectively argues, cleaning up the lobbying won't do a bit of good, because the issue isn't really lobbying. It's campaign financing.

Even the White House is getting a bit antsy. First Scott McClellan said he would release information about Abramoff visits to the WH, but now he's balking. The report from the AP sums it up this way:

"The White House is refusing to reveal details of tainted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's visits with President Bush's staff. Abramoff had "a few staff-level meetings" at the Bush White House, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday. But he would not say with whom Abramoff met, which interests he was representing or how he got access to the White House."

Let's face it, unless someone finds a blue dress with a stain on it (so to speak) we're not going to hear anything about any relationship the White House had with Abramoff. We'll just have to wait and see if the dress turns up.

[Just Inside the Beltway note: Our interest in this story had been rekindled due to the Redskins loss last week to the Seahawks in the NFC playoffs. Had the Redskins won, this space may have been used to break down Sunday's matchup with the Carolina Panthers].