Amorello may not realize it yet, but he's finished. He exists now only as a punching bag for Romney and as entertainment for the rest of us.

He's an easy target, but, as Eileen MacNamara wrote Wednesday, this isn't just about Matt Amorello. Increasingly, people are asking questions about the political-industrial complex that got us to this point.

Who's campaign has Bechtel contributed to? What about Modern Continental? Kim Atkins has already started down this road, noting yesterday that Tom Reilly -- the guy leading the investigation -- has accepted contributions from Big Dig contractors. (He's now stated that he is going to return them all.) Today, Margery Eagan highlights Joe Malone's recollections.

"When some (politician) would need a job for a supporter, (the Big Dig) is where you turned,” he said. “When someone needed a contribution for a campaign, the Big Dig is where they went. When someone needed to land somewhere after they got out of government, the Big Dig again.”

So, who else took money from Bechtel? How deep was the corruption? There's a Pulitzer out there waiting for someone.

- UPDATE: Charley at Blue Mass says this...

...It's an issue so resonant, so ridiculous, so nifty, so wasteful, so tragic, with so many possible villains and so few heroes, that our entire political and government establishment is implicated in its failures. The only reason why the first and last words out of every candidate's mouth haven't been "Big Dig" must have simply been wishful thinking.

No more. That someone actually died in the tunnels felt not like a surprise, but like something you knew was going to happen. You believed the assurances of the authorities because, well, you had no choice. But there's even more at stake here than the ability to drive to the airport without worrying about getting crushed to death by a slab of concrete.

Read it all, it's a good take.