As the election for Majority Leader gets closer and closer, Rep. Roy Blunt appears to be getting more and more desperate.

The Arizona Daily Sun reports today that Rep. Roy Blunt has paid nearly $26,000 for the vote of Rep. Rick Renzi [1], an Arizona congressman.

U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi has thrown his support behind campaign contributor Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., to replace Tom DeLay as majority leader of the House, raising some eyebrows in the Valley.

Renzi is the first Republican among Arizona's congressmen to say he wouldn't back Rep. John Shadegg, who represents central Phoenix and communities north to Anthem, in favor of a colleague outside his delegation.

It turns out Blunt is one of Renzi's top seven financial backers so far for this November's election.

Blunt and his political action committee have sent Renzi $26,000 in campaign contributions over the last four years, compared to a few thousand from Shadegg, according to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics and filings with the Federal Elections Commission.

According to a page one story in Friday's Wall Street Journal, "[o]f Mr. Blunt's 91 publicly announced supporters, 68 have received money totalling $690,000 from Mr. Blunt's PAC, according to the Campaign for a Cleaner Congress, a congressional watchdog group."

This would be even more shocking, if it weren't for the fact that it is so typical of how Roy Blunt has done business in Washington, D.C. since he arrived there. Then again, what can you expect? His mentor was Tom DeLay.