As Logan noted last week, Abramoff crony Ralph Reed was supposed to host a fundraiser for his pal John McCain Monday night. Well, apparently the McCain camp realized how bad that would have looked for their candidate, and although they won't admit they explicitly told him to stay away, Reed never showed up and no mention was made of him.

WSJ:

Ralph Reed was a no-show at a fund-raiser for John McCain Monday evening, following nearly a week of considerable drama surrounding his involvement in the senator’s campaign.

The Republican candidate had come under fire for associating with Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition who fell from grace after his involvement with lobbyist Jack Abramoff. McCain was one of the leaders of the investigation of Abramoff’s lobbying activities that led to his imprisonment. Reed was never charged.

Kudos to the Obama campaign for jumping on this right quick:

That didn’t stop the Obama campaign from issuing a “response” to the absence. “Faced with the embarrassing prospect of holding a fundraiser with one of Jack Abramoff’s closest associates, the McCain campaign scrambled today scratch Ralph Reed from tonight’s program,” Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement. “The real question isn’t why Reed isn’t showing up, but why a so-called reformer would invite him at all.”