What's trump and who's got the bowers?

It was a gamble but this isn't poker.

Yesterday the question was - will Toronto Star columnist Jim Travers' editorial/column/news story be enough to take the heat off Paul Martin? Well one of the questions anyway. Some were also asking just how cosy Travers is with Martin.

The Toronto Star piece, which contained no attribution or source, claimed Gomery's AdScam report will target the actions of Chretien insiders - "a small group driven by Liberal interests and personal greed almost effortlessly breached walls built to separate politicians from the treasury."

But the headlines today suggest the heat is on.

From the Montreal Gazette - Gambling on Gomery pays off for Martin: Report said to blame admen, Chretien loyalists

The much-anticipated Gomery report won't be out for another two weeks, but early indications are that Prime Minister Paul Martin's gamble in calling a full-dress public inquiry into the sponsorship scandal will pay off with at least a personal exoneration.

From the Globe and Mail - Opposition won't let PM off the hook for ad scandal. Whatever Gomery concludes, Bloc, NDP say Martin bears some responsibility

"It could be true that he did not know, because sometimes it can happen that one does not know when one does not want to know," Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe said. "Because he was in a position to know, being number two in the government, minister of finance, and vice-president of the Treasury Board."

He said that the Bloc started asking questions about the companies involved in the scandal as far back as 2000, and Mr. Martin should have been asking questions.

From the Winnipeg Sun - Opponents say PM isn't home free

The Conservatives have broadened their agenda in recent days to include a spending scandal in the Fisheries Department that saw two civil servants fired.

They have also been hammering the Liberals over a consulting contract at Indian Affairs that was issued on condition the contractor leave no paper trail.

And they continue to press the case against David Dingwall, who quit as president of the Royal Canadian Mint amid questions about his expense account and his past lobbying activities.

Angry in the Great White North has the big picture with two posts mined directly from Hansard. Liberal scandals addressed in the House of Commons on October 7 are here. Liberal scandals addressed in the house on October 17 are here.

He's calling it Scandal- Paloozza and reminds us that these allegations came up in a single day in the house.

Of course, Kate gets the last word.

And as you listen to the chattering classes debate the findings, remember that we would have remained forever in the dark about Gagliano and Guite and envelopes stuffed with cash, had not Public Works employee Alan Cutler blown the whistle - on Paul Martin's desire to place his own personal Liberal party leadership team on the public payroll.

Martin may have reneged on Adscam but the game isn't over. The media shook the bush and out fell David Dingwall. The Oposition knows what's in the kitty and that now isn't the time to send a boy. So, is it possible that the Liberals are now left bare and just might be Euchred this time?