AUSTIN (Houston Chronicle) - Travis County prosecutors admitted Friday they lack physical proof of a list of Republican candidates that is at the heart of money-laundering indictments against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay and two of his associates.


Prosecutors said Friday in court that they only had a "similar" list and not the one allegedly received by then-RNC Deputy Director Terry Nelson. Late in the day, they released a list of 17 Republican candidates, but only seven are alleged to have received money in the scheme.

DeLay lawyers call it “McCarthy-like”:

"I'll tell you what I think about this list. In the 1950s, a man named McCarthy claimed to have a list of 200 communists in the State Department, and he didn't," said J.D. Pauerstein, a lawyer for Jim Ellis, the director of DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority. "They (prosecutors) don't know what list they're talking about, even though they specify it in their indictment."

Is this a house or cards getting ready to fall? One thing is for sure, unlike many Republicans in the past, DeLay is not taking a passive stance on this issue, trusting his fate to the judicial system.

On his website, the front page displays an open letter from DeLay, to his supporters, outlining what he believes to be a partisan political attack. The letter (through a link) lists DeLay’s version of events, along with his alleged misconduct items:

Earle Asks for a "Do Over"
A Legal Analysis
Ronnie Earle One Pager
Ronnie Earle's Previous Misuse Of His Office
What Others Have Said About Ronnie Earle
The Timeline
Coming Soon: The Ronnie Earle Movie

Come one, Come all! The amazing circus that our elected officials and Washington have become is on full display!