According to a story in Monday's Washington Post, Rep. Roy Blunt is "stumbling" in his race for Majority Leader.

But supporters of Blunt's opponents say the acting majority leader has stumbled badly in recent days, as Boehner and Shadegg push to turn the leadership contest into a referendum on how seriously the party is taking a corruption scandal that has already led to the conviction of one Republican House member and former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff. A vote for Blunt to succeed the indicted DeLay and, for that matter, Cantor to succeed Blunt as whip, would send precisely the wrong message, supporters of Boehner and Shadegg say.

More:

Beneath such public testimonials is a hard-fought campaign with a rich share of mudslinging. Boehner supporters have been happy to point out Blunt's ample ties to DeLay, and by association, to Abramoff.

Blunt's campaign committees paid Alexander Strategy Group -- a lobbying firm started by top DeLay aides with close ties to Abramoff -- $485,485 between 1999 and 2002 to start up a Blunt political action committee. His meteoric rise from president of Southwest Baptist University to House freshman in 1996 to chief deputy whip in 1999 to whip in 2002 was orchestrated in large part by DeLay. And opponents say he has followed his mentor's lead, creating a web of links to K Street that rivals DeLay Inc. His longtime chief of staff, Gregg Hartley, has helped coordinate his campaign for majority leader from the lobbying suites of Cassidy & Associates.

Stay tuned....

[X-posted at Fired Up! Missouri]