Posted on 01/24/2002 9:01:32 AM PST by BigMacGOP
AP reporting that the Campaign Finance Reform has received the required number of signatures for the Discharge Petition.
(BTW, I told you she was a chick ...
The real question is how much political capital should be burned up on this. Bush has it right. Sign it and get it thrown out in court.
And Clinton committs treason in return for the money and both parties refuse to let him be prosecuted and now these SOB's want to pass some phoney campaign finance reform?????
Of course not—if it could hurt the 'Rats, they wouldn't be supporting it. Adding more election laws always hurs the GOP, because that's the only party to which the laws apply. The laws are enforced by federal bureaucrats at the FEC, and federal bureaucrats are, by definition, Democrats.
McCain has been battling cancer. Would you deprive him of this "stop me before I kill again" legacy that will send a message against, if not actually stop, future Keating 5 sorts?
And this sick bastard Clinton deserves the punishment befitting of a traitor.
Prisoners of war?
That term is passe. Please try to keep up.
(Don't wanna get busted by the game warden for unfair trolling)
Washington, April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Democrats will have to do more than Republicans to adjust their campaign fundraising if the Senate's McCain-Feingold legislation ever becomes law.
The bill, which the Senate is poised to pass today and send to the House of Representatives, would ban large, unregulated ``soft money'' contributions to party committees.
In the last election, soft money accounted for 47 percent of Democrats' funds versus the Republicans' 35 percent, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign funds.
A loss of money for Democrats would make it harder for them to take control of the House or Senate in the 2002 elections.
``Democratic activists and fundraisers throughout the nation are very enthusiastic about this'' even though the bill might crimp their tactics, said Rick Hess, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee.
Sponsored by Arizona Republican Senator John McCain and Wisconsin Democrat Senator Russell Feingold, the bill would limit parties to raising contributions of $25,000 or less. It would double to $2,000 the amount that individuals may give to specific campaigns.
The Senate has debated and amended the bill, opposed by Republican leaders and supported by most Democrats, for two weeks.
``I presume it will pass'' when the Senate votes today, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said.
Democrats Change Tactics
Even before the bill becomes law, Democrats are refocusing their fundraising techniques to woo smaller contributions that would be legal under its new terms, Hess said.
Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the DNC -- the Democrats' top national fundraising vehicle -- is focusing on raising contributions of less than $20,000 from individuals. Two-thirds of soft money contributions come in larger amounts.
At a fundraiser in Washington last Thursday, McAuliffe told 250 party supporters who paid $5,000 each to attend that the DNC hit a record in March, raising $7 million in contributions under $200 since the beginning of the year.
Democrats' two main congressional fundraising committees relied on soft money for more than half of their funds in the last election. Republican counterparts drew on soft money less, getting more of the regulated ``hard money'' category of contributions that the Senate campaign finance bill will enhance.
Democrats raised $269 million in hard money in 1999-2000, and $243 million in soft money, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Republicans raised $447 million in hard money and $244 million in soft money, according to the center's figures.
The House of Representatives, which has passed similar legislation in the past, must approve the bill before it can be sent to President George W. Bush for his signature. Bush said he'd sign a bill that improves the current system, backing off his insistence that any bill restrict union and corporate funding of campaigns.
Lockbox.
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