The American Spectator

p> HARRY AND JACK br> Democrats in the Senate are worried in the wake of their leader Sen. Harry Reid ‘s shady land deal, that the full details of his relationship with lobbyist Jack Abramoff will soon come to light. /p>

“Their relationship has been the elephant in the room, as it were, for months,” says one Democratic staffer, whose boss aspires to a higher leadership position. “Some of the Democratic senators think that Reid’s ties to Abramoff are why we haven’t made more about the scandal than we have.”

Reid is said to have told associates that the AP story on his millions dollar windfall in Las Vegas real estate will not take on a life of its own. But Democrats are concerned that Reid, who was known to have socialized with Abramoff at several Washington restaurants over the years, will continue to be a target for Republicans and the media in the closing weeks of the campaign.

p> TEAM PLAYER br> Democrat National Committee Chairman Howie Dean has been asking for regular reports on the campaign activities of Sen. Hillary Rodham, and even he was surprised by the millions — some estimate as much as $5 million — that the junior New York Senator has poured into other Democrat campaigns of House and Senate colleagues and prospective colleagues.