Word: democratization
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...Senate began debating campaign-finance reform last week, the only safe bet was that things would soon get ugly. But by the second day, even that bet was off. And by Friday, astonishingly enough, the bill, which McCain co-authored with Democrat Russell Feingold, hadn't been killed--or even altered all that much--after a week in which an amendment was offered roughly every three hours. Just as unexpected was what did happen--something the Senate hasn't seen much of on any issue: a substantive, thoughtful and generally amicable debate. The kind the framers intended...
...basic free-speech issue: if people want to spend their money supporting candidates or making TV ads about a candidate's environmental record, that is their prerogative. But as the week began, it was not McConnell who posed the greatest threat. It was, of all people, Minnesota Democrat Paul Wellstone, the most earnest, make-the-world-a-better-place senator...
...depends on your personal situation. Obviously John Breaux thought he could explain his 180-degree turn on this issue (he was the first Democrat to publicly bolt a few weeks ago) to the folks back home. For people like Murray and Harkin, who both face tough reelection fights, it's a little more difficult - with Harkin in particular, if he bolts, Republicans are swearing that they'll make his life miserable...
...drive to drive Democrats off the McCain-Feingold reservation with a hike in the hard-money limits will be back as a new amendment, perhaps as early as Tuesday evening. And the vote on "non-severability" - due as early as Wednesday or Thursday - still looms. But backers of McCain-Feingold (and it's interesting to note that buzz-worthy frosh John Edwards, Democrat of North Carolina, has lately been putting himself at the head of this pack) are ending all their press conferences with words like "very optimistic...
...amendment that could scuttle the whole enterprise, proposed by progressive Democrat Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, is reformist at heart. Under the current system, unions and corporations are banned from running ads that target specific candidates within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary, but lets other groups do so if they disclose their funding. Wellstone's amendment extends the ban to independent advocacy groups, from the NRA to the Sierra Club, and he described his proposal as plugging a loophole...