No GOP incumbent senator is surer of re-election this year than Lugar, who never has been much of a partisan during 24 years in the Senate. Lugar is not threatened by the Democratic Senate candidate, an Indianapolis lawyer named David Johnson. But the senator is upset by Johnson's participation in a plan crafted by his party's national money strategists. Lugar calls it money laundering. Johnson is not alone.
Soft money is a bipartisan addiction.
But Democrats who want to abolish it through the McCain-Feingold bill could be accused of hypocrisy by joining this scam. Here's how it works. But any amount can go to the candidate's state Democratic party, which then can spend it on his campaign. If that is not money laundering, it is a reasonable facsimile. The event that raised Lugar's ire was an April 29 fund-raiser in Indianapolis conducted by Indiana Senate 2000.