Word: soft
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...think the people who collect checks over at the Republican Party would be having a terrific summer. After all, the money is coming in like bats to a barn at daybreak. In the first half of the year, the party hauled in $29.4 million in "soft money"--unlimited contributions that are used for getting out the vote, putting "issue" ads on the air and covering other big expenses. That's about 45% more than the party raised in the same period four years ago. Isn't it time to pour the margaritas, toast the revving economy and give thanks...
...their party committees have raised $24.2 million--up 130% from four years earlier, a far greater jump than the G.O.P. has made. What's worse, there's the prospect of rain on the whole dollar-driven parade. The black cloud comes in the form of a proposed ban on soft money, among other campaign-finance reforms being promoted by some in the Republicans' own camp, principally Senator John McCain and Representative Christopher Shays. These advocates of reform have long tried to shut the loophole through which as much as half a billion dollars in soft money could flow this year...
What's more, the campaign against soft money--which is given to the party rather than to specific candidates--is being aided by an unlikely new interest group, big donors. Corporate leaders are starting to balk at a system that many view as little more than a party-led protection racket. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu International, which gave more than $225,000 in the '98 election cycle, mostly to the G.O.P., is likely to cease giving soft money this fall after a vote by its board of directors, predicts chairman Ed Kangas. Several other large companies are expected...
...Code" era of 1930-34 is getting its due in two excellent books and a film retrospective. Mark A. Vierra's Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood (Abrams; 240 pages; $39.95) mixes gorgeous photos with tart memos and anecdotes from the period. Thomas Doherty's Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934 (Columbia University Press; 430 pages; $19.50) cogently examines the pictures and their political impact. Those in New York City can see the fabulous evidence firsthand. Film Forum, the town's invaluable rep house, is mounting a series of 44 key films, unspooling...
...living dancer with five talented women, none of whom get lost in his long shadow. Raquel Aedo shares center stage with her boss in a new pas de deux by Lucy Guerin, an Australian choreographer whose work first caught Baryshnikov's eye three years ago. The combination is potent: Soft Center is a laconic, coolly sensuous duet accompanied by a raspy electronic-music collage with a snippet of Paul Hindemith's mournful Trauermusik stuck in the middle (hence the title). Guerin is a major find--and so is Aedo...