Money paid to spouses is one of the primary ways that campaign finance laws are skirted, and the natural question should be, “is this money being paid because of someone’s special abilities, or is it just a pass-through to avoid detection by the FEC?” It’s a question that has legitimately been asked about members of both parties, including John Doolittle, Evan Bayh, Tom DeLay, Chris Dodd, and Tom Daschle. If Senator Lieberman would like to talk about the “merits,” he should explain what his wife has done to merit $328,000 in speaking fees in one year rather than trying to obscure the issue with his theatrical brand of “outrage.”