"Can This Elephant Be Cleaned Up?"

...."We Don't Know Jack"... The Republicans hope Tom DeLay's successor will repair their reputation, but the stink of the lobbying scandal clings hard to the G.O.P.

'The spreadsheet, bristling with million-dollar totals, jumped from flat screen to flat screen last winter in the Washington underground of fund-raising consultants and political-action committees. It had been created by allies of Congressman John Boehner, an Ohio Republican known for massive, raucous late-night parties. A window into the science of the shakedown, the spreadsheet calculated the "efficiency" of fund-raising committees headed by various leaders of the House, showing which were most generous to other Republicans. Boehner's backers were thrilled when the widely forwarded spreadsheet produced a front-page headline in The Hill, a newspaper focused on Congress, saying boehner boasts of big bucks. Eight months later, his team smiled again when the paper ran a list of Boehner's "K Street Cabinet," loyal lobbyists and other power brokers who would help run the show if he achieved his longtime ambition of becoming House Speaker or majority leader. With Tom DeLay's machine still in charge of the Capitol, those were the credentials that would get an aspiring lawmaker taken seriously. Now, a few indictments and plea agreements later, the political landscape has shifted mightily, and Boehner is seeking to replace DeLay by running for majority leader as Mr. Clean, an outsider bent on shaking up the system that superlobbyist Jack Abramoff mastered and that then snarled him and, so far, mainly the Republican Party in scandal. "Boehner Outlines Plan for Reform, Renewal and Changing the Status Quo," blared a statement Boehner issued less than 48 hours after DeLay announced he would not seek re-election to the House's No. 2 post. "We're kind of stuck in neutral, and we need to renew ourselves," Boehner told TIME.