A former top aide to Rep. Tom DeLay pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy and promised to cooperate with a federal investigation of bribery and lobbying fraud that has so far netted three convictions and prompted calls for ethics reform in Congress.

Tony Rudy, DeLay's former deputy chief of staff, admitted to conspiring with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff both while Rudy worked for DeLay and after he left the lawmaker's staff to become a lobbyist himself.

While the Republicans are seeking to heal the wounds of divisiveness caused by the immigration issue and the president's falling ratings, Democrats are hard at work trying to convince the nation they can be trusted with national security. It is clearly a theme that will be aired over and over in the coming election as the minority party in Congress tries to regain control of one or both houses lost more than a decade ago.

The heated issue of what to do about the influx of illegal immigrants into America is threatening to become a dominant issue in presidential politics. That would be dreadful for this nation.

With 8 million to 12 million immigrants illegally living in the United States, the clamor is loud for changes in immigration law. But there is no consensus on whether there should be a guest-worker program or a dramatic new effort to keep out immigrants through enhanced border security or an all-out push to force those here without documentation to leave.

House conservatives criticized President Bush, accused the Senate of fouling the air, said prisoners rather than illegal farm workers should pick America's crops and denounced the use of Mexican flags by protesters Thursday in a vehement attack on legislation to liberalize U.S. immigration laws.

Much of New Orleans' rebirth from Hurricane Katrina hinges on factors beyond the government's control and could take up to a quarter-century to complete, the Bush administration's Gulf Coast recovery chief said Thursday.