Campaign Reform

CHICAGO - When Congress passed a major new campaign finance "reform" law in 2002, critics said it would protect incumbents from being voted out of office. To which President Bush might reply, "Only if it's enforced correctly." The United States has a long tradition of robust, unregulated and often vicious debate during political campaigns, particularly presidential elections. John Quincy Adams was accused of serving as a pimp to the czar of Russia. Andrew Jackson's enemies portrayed him as a murderer.

BOSTON - For convention-crazed Democrats, Monday was a night of irony. First, they listened to former President Bill Clinton declare that Republicans serve only the wealthy, that Democrats stand for all Americans and that he would gladly give up $5,000 of his own tax cut to help ordinary people. Then, after Clinton's speech, about 1,000 of them - lawmakers, delegates and others - headed straight to Felt, a swanky Boston nightclub, for a "Dance by the Light of the Moon" gala paid for by the natural-gas industry.

WASHINGTON -- During the 1990s, television viewers knew an election was approaching when ads urged them to call Candidate X and tell him Y. In 1996, for example, Montana viewers were told: "Call Bill Yellowtail and tell him to support family values." This was the tag line for an ad that said Yellowtail, an environmentalist and a Democratic candidate for Congress, had taken "a swing at his wife," failed to pay child support and had been convicted of a felony. It was no surprise to anyone that Yellowtail lost the election.

NOW THAT Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has established himself as the premier fund-raiser in state history, the Democrats who control the General Assembly might have good reason to reconsider campaign finance reforms they have traditionally scorned. It could be a matter of political survival. The recent election showed that Ehrlich's finance wizards knew the loopholes in the law and were not shy about using them. The governor-elect's determination to build the state Republican Party is unquestioned, and his money machine is poised to pump money into challenges to incumbent Democrats in 2006.

WASHINGTON -- Now that President Bush has signed the campaign finance bill into law, we'll see whether loopholes will be found around it, the courts will shoot it down or candidates will finds new ways to raise money on the Internet. It is important at this point to reflect upon some basic assumptions of most efforts to reform the campaign finance system. Most efforts have been based on two often unmentioned assumptions: that voters, who are essentially passive, cast their votes on Election Day largely because of paid advertisements, especially those on television, and that voters learn about campaign races largely from the media, especially from television.

WASHINGTON -- In his cockier days before Congress dealt him a major defeat the other day, Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Darth Vader of campaign finance reform, liked to ridicule the bipartisan effort to bring it about. He would smugly declare that there was about as much interest in it among voters as there was in "static cling." Why he chose that particular plague of good grooming to make his point was puzzling. Now that the Senate has enacted the bill to put a lid on unregulated "soft money" donations to the parties in federal campaigns, Mr. McConnell is less flippant but just as resolute.

WASHINGTON - After an uphill climb lasting nearly seven years, the drive to overhaul federal campaign finance law to try to curb the influence of special interests succeeded yesterday with a final Senate vote of approval. The measure, approved 60-40 by the Senate, now goes to President Bush, who said last night that he would sign it into law despite objections to parts of it. Opponents of the legislation vowed to mount an immediate challenge in court. Eleven Republicans joined all but two Democrats - Sens.

WASHINGTON -- For sheer hypocrisy, there's seldom been anything to match the display put on by the House foes of campaign finance reform in their failed effort to keep unregulated "soft money" flowing into the federal election system. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, who has spent years trying to kill all efforts to shut off the spigot or even reduce its flow, proposed with a straight face ending all soft money immediately, in a transparent effort to shake loose members facing tough re-election fights in November.

THE LATE, LATE SHOW Wednesday night didn't draw an Olympic-size audience, but it wasn't for lack of drama. We're talking about the one on C-SPAN, starring the U.S. House of Representatives and featuring the debate and vote on the Shays-Meehan bill, which sharply limits so-called "soft money" contributions to political parties. The show had everything: tension, mystery, histrionics, a big-star cameo appearance (Charlton Heston phoned in on behalf of the National Rifle Association) and - best of all - a happy ending.