Word: reformer
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...really want to reform the system, Wellstone argued, you can't just shuffle the money from parties to outside groups. It wasn't enough to limit issues ads by unions and corporations in the last weeks of a campaign; he proposed extending the limits to all advocacy groups, from the Christian Coalition to the Feminist Majority Foundation. But any limit on political speech makes First Amendment purists queasy, and his amendment, reformers feared, would never pass constitutional muster. And that might one day be all it would take to kill the entire bill--if the Senate passed a "non-severability...
...been doing that job for McCain for 17 years. He became so adept at rooting out legislative pork that McCain calls him "the Ferret." Listening to other staff members gossip on Monday afternoon, Buse picked up his first hint of trouble. Both McConnell and Texan Phil Gramm, another reform foe, were going to vote with Wellstone. Why would Gramm and McConnell vote with a liberal? Suddenly Buse understood: Wellstone's amendment was a poison pill, with the potential to kill the whole measure. He rushed to warn McCain...
...strange alliance of pro- and anti-reform purists--27 Democrats and 24 Republicans--passed Wellstone's amendment. Never the most skilled inside player, McCain realized he had been blindsided. He began to suspect that even Democrats who had voted with him, like minority leader Tom Daschle, were secretly against him. The next morning, as he boarded the little subway train that runs between the Senate office buildings and the Capitol, McCain was muttering, as much to himself as anyone, "Game face...
...votes they needed to kill it. Seven or eight Democrats were worried that if the courts threw out the limits on independent issue ads, lawmakers would be left without the soft money they need to fight back. The tally was expected to be very close--a pro-reform lobbyist was counting 51 votes on his side--and there was even speculation that Dick Cheney might come in to break a tie. But at last, once it was clear the reformers would prevail, wavering Senators climbed aboard. That, many reformers agreed, was a tribute to Daschle, who in the end earned...
...expected this week and the bill clears the Senate, both sides know the game is far from over. Tom DeLay, the Republican majority whip in the House, vowed last week that he will "try anything I can" to defeat the bill, and no one doubts it is possible. Though reform bills have passed the House twice before, McCain-Feingold has changed so dramatically that it has united DeLay and top Democrats in opposition. Sources told TIME that Democratic leader Richard Gephardt complained that the increased hard-money limits directly to Daschle. He was especially angered by plans...