A defendants' guide to the GOP "revolution

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

For the first time since Watergate, 2006 will be the year of the courts in American politics, with three important legal battles dominating the news in an election year. In some ways, the Republican establishment in Washington, D.C., will be on trial.

The cases are interconnected, although they have different defendants.

Charges against Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's right-hand man, will be heavily publicized but are the least important of the three cases. Libby is charged with lying to a grand jury investigating the leaking of a CIA agent's name.

Libby's trial will get big headlines because it's inside-the-Beltway stuff involving major political and media players, who love to gossip about whose phone calls Libby and Karl Rove return. If Rove is indicted, however, that touches the president — George W. Bush and Rove are inseparable — and there's blood in the water.

More important are the linked cases of Texas Rep. Tom DeLay, the powerful House majority leader, and Jack Abramoff, a well-connected lobbyist and DeLay ally. The influence of DeLay, nicknamed The Hammer for his gentle ways, intertwines with the career of Abramoff and his associates.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002681963_floyd14.html