For the most part, we've made our way through the first trial of the Abramoff scandal without too much damage to Members of Congress. Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), of course, was a frequent topic, but few others were even touched. One of those touched was Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).

Here's what her case boils down to: Capito had a chief of staff who was a close friend of Neil Volz, a member of Team Abramoff. Her staffer, Mark Johnson, gladly used her name to run Volz a favor. But when the going got rough and Abramoff needed the Congresswoman herself to weigh in, Volz didn't even ask her because, he complained, she was too politically weak to risk getting caught shilling.

Fortunately, from Abramoff's emails released during David Safavian's trial, we can put the whole story together.

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