Wampum

It's Saturday night, and since maybe five people read us now that the Sandies are over and done with, I might as well have some fun... idly speculating.

So let's hop into the Wampum time machine, back to February, 2004. On Sunday, February 22, the Washington Post put out it's first bombshell article on Jack Abramoff and the price of influence for (gaming) Indian Country. On Thursday, February 26, Senator John McCain, member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee (but not, yet, the Chairman), announced that he would hold hearings on Abramoff and his cronies.

That evening, the actual Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, checked himself into a Washington hospital with chest pains. Turned out to be heartburn.

Less than a week later, on March 3rd, Campbell, who had kicked off his re-election campaign two months earlier, shocked the Beltway crowd with his announcement that he would be retiring, due to "health concerns". Seems he felt that Colorado citizens deserved a representative with 100% chance of survival, and doctors had told him that his recent bout with prostrate cancer only had a 98% survival rate. So much for the risk of getting hit by a bus when you leave the Capitol. In fact, Campbell, now comfortabely ensconsed in his new digs at lobbying powerhouse Holland and Knight, isn't so worried about dropping dead on his corporate and tribal gaming clients.

I have more to say on this, particularly after reviewing the Abramoff hearings Campbell chaired versus the one under McCains watch, but that can wait.

The question remains - did Campbell jump, or was he pushed - by McCain?