Word: hagel
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...After running a few gauntlets, like Hagel's soft-money legalization and a hard-money fight that ended in a sensible compromise, and picking up a few constitutional soft spots, like the constitutionally vulnerable amendment aimed at keeping the special-interest groups from bullying the political parties, the McCain-Feingold soft-money ban cleared the severability hurdle Thursday with a surprisingly strong 57-43 showing...
...After weathering Chuck Hagel and his soft-money legalization plan Tuesday, and getting the word Wednesday from White House spokesman Ari Fleischer that President Bush had no plans to stand in their way, McCain and his partner turned to the tricky business of hard money - and finding a contribution limit that both Republicans and Democrats could be satisfied with...
...this far, McCain had to triumph over his enemies. Now he has to defeat a pal, Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, who calls McCain his best friend in the Senate. Hagel still wears his MCCAIN FOR PRESIDENT button occasionally, and shows off a framed TIME cover of McCain inscribed "To my dear friend." Yet he has authored a rival bill that has emerged as the favorite disguise for those who want to look like reformers while leaving the system porous enough for Denise Rich to drive a pardon through. Hagel's proposal does not ban soft-money contributions but simply caps...
...Hagel wouldn't be such a threat if he weren't such a good guy. He is "McCain without the attitude," as one colleague puts it. A Vietnam War hero, part maverick, part go-to guy for moderates of both parties, Hagel is that highly evolved political creature: principled but open for business. The Reform Over My Dead Body folks, such as Senator Mitch McConnell, can talk to him, as can the President, who has met with Hagel three times on reform. Although Bush's just-released "statement of principles" differs from Hagel's bill in some respects, Bush would...
...Hagel doesn't see himself standing in the way of his friend's life's dream. "Don't make this into a Shakespearean struggle," he says. "This is not an issue between John and me personally. We've always known the day would come when we would go different ways." But of all the issues in all the world, why would Hagel pick McCain's signature bill to fight over? He's got his principles too. "John's bill has the unintended consequence of weakening political parties by depriving them of soft money, which will then go to darker, unaccountable...