Do you know the name of Tom DeLay?

No links in this story-- it's purely personal. On the liberal blogs, and on Air America this week, one topic has dominated: the impending fall of Tom DeLay. I've been reading about accusations of DeLay's corruption for (literally) years in magazines like The New Republic. Just the other day, I came across a snide remark about how DeLay's corruption wasn't a surprise to anyone but the mainstream media.

But I was wondering-- is the story resonating with anyone? Two high-profile stories about DeLay's shady dealings appeared in the NYT and the WaPo just yesterday. So today I asked two friends of mine about their take on the DeLay story-- one liberal, one conservative, neither of them news junkies like myself. And neither of them had even heard of Tom DeLay. The liberal press was reporting on DeLay's questionable activities as early as 1999.

The way things are shaping up, the public at large isn't aware of Tom DeLay's existence, much less his status as GOP powerbroker and (increasingly likely) launderer of millions of dollars in donations to the Republican party. Often from foreign agents, no less.

Now, I'm living in Massachusetts. Bluest of the blue, you might say. And people aren't even aware of the story here (not to mention people-- Republicans, even-- I know in Kentucky and Missouri). So is this story getting any play in purple states? Red states? Does anyone but concerned progressives even know who this guy is? The state of the media could be worse than we thought. What can we really hope for when the biggest story of political corruption in decades is off the public radar? If there's any more worrisome call to take up the fight, I don't know what it is. Please write to media outlets, local papers, and anyone else you can think of and force them to talk about GOP corruption vis a vis DeLay. I'm going to make that my mission for the next few days.