Travis County has never been far from the news during the Bush presidency. Chroniclers of it may have to mark it down as one of the percolating centers of left-wing stunts. Dan Rather made Travis County famous long before Ronnie Earle, raising $20,000 for its Democratic Party in 2001. His daughter Robin, a prominent liberal Texas environmentalist, thought her Dad would be a reliable draw for Democrats, though Rather claimed later that his fabled ear-to-the-ground reporting had simply failed him — that he had no idea his daughter was asking him to speak at a Dem fundraiser. Forgery conduit Bill Burkett hired a lawyer who was once chairman of the Travis County Democrats. None of this, of course, influenced Rather’s confidence in Burkett as an unimpeachable source. Ronnie Earle’s case against Delay doesn’t exactly look airtight, but then again he could always hit Kinko’s and cobble together some impressive evidence. Â