One thing that's clear when you look closely at the deal that came down today is that they take the investigation a lot closer to Tom DeLay than it seemed on first blush. Specifically, it refers to Tony Rudy (see pages 21 and 22), once a key DeLay staffer, then a colleague of Abramoff's and now a key player at Alexander Strategy Group -- Ed Buckham's shop.

(A lot of this story turns on how Rudy got from Team Abramoff over to Team Buckham, aka Alexander Strategy Group. But that's for another post.)

This from John Bresnahan in Roll Call (sub.req.) ...

According to the Abramoff plea document, a Congressional staffer is alleged to have performed a series of acts during a period extending from 1999 to January 2001 that benefited Abramoff’s clients, including derailing an Internet gambling bill and blocking postal rate increases for magazine publishers.

“Staffer A,” who is not named in the plea deal, is believed to be Rudy, DeLay’s former deputy chief of staff, according to media reports. In return for these actions, Rudy’s wife, Lisa, reportedly received $50,000 in 10 payments from a nonprofit group. That organization was not named in the plea agreement.

This particular reference is on page 13 of the plea agreement.

Will have more on this in our run-down of the day's events.