Late Friday FCC lawyers said that commish Robert McDowell could indeed participate in the review of the AT&T-BellSouth merger, a process McDowell had been abstaining from due to possible conflicts of interests with a previous employer. Watch next week to see if McDowell, a Republican, listens to Democrats like Ed Markey and keeps himself out of the merger discussions, or whether he bends to chairman Kevin Martin’s wishes and ties the deal up in a big bow for the holidays. Equipment providers like Cisco, who are waiting for the deal to go through so that AT&T can start spending BellSouth money, are likely to give McDowell a ring soon.