Reader John W. Braue, III takes me to task for perpetuating a common misconception:

Enron was only the FIFTH largest contributor to the Republican National Committee in 2000. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the top five contributors to the RNC in 2000 were:

$992,115 - AT&T
$988,774 - Philip Morris
$913,905 - MBNA Corp
$900,290 - Credit Suisse First Boston
$888,265 - Enron Corp

For the record, the top five contributors to the Democratic National Committee in 2000 were:

$3,423,400 - American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees
$1,516,100 - Service Employees International Union
$1,358,400 - Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
$1,237,500 - Vyyo Inc
$1,131,500 - Communications Workers of America:

All numbers from the CRP's website at http://www.opensecrets.org/

(...When you add in their contributions to individual races, Enron may well be the largest contributor, but I don't feel like doing the arithmetic).
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John ''Akatsukami'' Braue
http://www.win.net/ratsnest