So what does this bill do? It will force members of Congress to open up their books to show how lobbyists "bundle" campaign contributions - a practice that's legal, but one that we and others think often opens the door to influence-peddling on Capitol Hill. Lobbyists will have to outline the campaign contributions they make and payments to presidential inaugural committees, presidential libraries and lawmaker-controlled charities.

Congress will also have to disclose the source of "earmarks" - those spending items that are inserted into bills, often with little or no public debate. It also ends "holds" - those nagging anonymous maneuvers that let a single senator block action on a bill. The bill also will ban members of Congress from attending lavish parties thrown in their honor at political conventions. Lobbyists will not be allowed to pay for gifts, meals and travel, and members' travel on corporate jets would be restricted.

There's a two-year "revolving door" ban that senators must honor before they become lobbyists. House members and senior congressional staff must wait one year after they leave Congress before they can hang their lobbying shingles on K Street. And most importantly, lawmakers who were convicted of perjury, bribery and other crimes would lose their congressional pensions.

Don't get us wrong. We thought Congress would have taken stronger action to curb these high-profile abuses that occupied the headlines for the past few years. And we're unhappy that the House has all but abandoned the possibility of independent ethics enforcement. (Yeah, Mike Capuano, I'm talking to you. Where's your task force now?)

But the closely divided Senate cannot pass a bill without attempting to turn it into an act of high drama, and it's following the script to a T. The Senate approved this bill in January by a 96-2 vote, so it would be simple to do over, right?

No. Enter longtime Sen. Ted Stevens, who is embroiled in a corruption investigation and had some uninvited guests at his Alaska home Monday in the form of a joint IRS-FBI raid. Stevens, who regularly sports an Incredible Hulk necktie on the Senate floor, must have caught a spare gamma ray somewhere; during the Senate policy lunches with his GOP colleagues and Vice President Cheney yesterday, he went off and vowed to kill the ethics bill - the same one he voted FOR in January. (No word from the Senate Republican cloakroom if Stevens actually turned green or split his suit jacket during his outburst; remember, the Hulk NEVER splits his pants.)

Sen. Stevens' outburst aside, both Republican and Democratic senators believe the bill will survive its cloture vote and pass by a wide margin. Because this bill amends Senate rules, it needs 67 votes, instead of the usual 60, to avoid a filibuster and move to final passage.

But the important number to remember is eight, not 67. That's the number of lawmakers in THIS CONGRESS who are now under federal investigation, following the raid on Stevens's house as part of an probe into allegations that an Alaska energy firm bribed lawmakers. The eight include Rep. Jefferson, who was indicted on federal corruption charges earlier this year; Reps. Rick Renzi, R-AZ, and John Doolittle, R-CA, who have had homes and businesses searched by the feds, as well as Stevens and Rep. Don Young, both R-AK. And that's not including the link between Sen. David Vitter, R-LA, and the alleged "DC Madam."

The House Ethics Committee may also consider whether Rep. Heather Wilson, R-NM, tampered with an investigation by calling former U.S. attorney David Iglesias while the investigation was under way. (Iglesias is one of the eight U.S. attorneys replaced by the White House for an alleged lack of partisanship in carrying out their duties.)

The New York Times said this morning in an editorial: "Voters are watching closely to see if Congress finally has the courage to clean itself up." Whatever. When it meets tomorrow, the Senate should get its act together on passing this ethics package and, as folks say in my neighborhood, just do the damn thing.