Ohio Democratic Chairman David Leland says the FEC regulations have put his party at a disadvantage to groups like the National Rifle Association and Americans for Tax Reform, which can spend freely on issue advertising and not disclose how much they spend. All we want is a level playing field. Arguments in the parties' lawsuits, which the court has combined, are to be heard soon by U.S. District Court Judge William Bryant. It will provide just a huge open pipeline to funnel unregulated money through the parties and into federal campaigns. It's a frontal assault.
Many critics say it's hard for things to get much worse.
Since then, however, both parties have found increasing ways to use soft money in a financial arms race. The parties have felt comfortable doing it. There hasn't been a political downside. Coming full circle On Capitol Hill, the two most popular proposals to revamp the campaign finance system would curtail soft money and impose some limits on issue advertising by outside groups. Republican House leaders agreed to bring the matter up only after they were confronted with a revolt from moderates and freshmen in their party.