John Culberson is in cahoots with Tom Delay...cue Claude Raines - "I'm shocked, shocked I tell you."

Seriously, though several of these amounts are significant some are a bit trifling. A quarter of that list got $20 bucks or less - what good does that do? Senators Rick Santorum, Craig Thomas and James Inhofe got a whopping $6 each. Did the PAC Administrator buy them a Value Meal at Mc Donalds and report that as a contribution? I know that in politics money buys access and influence, but I'm trying to imagine how much access and influence you get for 6 bucks. Is there a coupon involved?

Yeah, I didn't get those $20 and $6 donations, either. I figure they must be a share of something, but beyond that it makes no sense to me.

That said, something like 95 people on the list got $10K or more from DeLay. That's a lot of money.

Two MN reps, Mark Kennedy and John Kline, were among the worst offenders, at $29k and $30k, respectively. I don't know which one offends me more: Kline shopped around for a congressional district that would elect his conservative ass for 3 cycles before he got in, but Kennedy's MY rep, and he's a Bush bobblehead. Worse, rumor has it that he's going to run for the Senate seat in 2006. We lost Paul Wellstone's seat to NY transplant (and former Dem mayor of St. Paul) Norm Coleman in '02 (and yes, Norm's on DeLay's payroll, too); if Mark Dayton retires in '06, I'm afraid there aren't many who could challenge Kennedy. (To be honest, I'm not even sure if Dayton could challenge Kennedy. He's a good Dem, by and large, but his speaking abilities leave much to be desired.)