Now the factoid is discredited. The factoid in question was the existence of some handwritten notes taken by a Gore aide at a 1995 meeting attended by Gore. The notes were turned over to the Justice Department by Gore's office. This meant the ads were to be financed by a mixture of hard and soft money. Hard money is money raised officially for the campaign and subject to limits on the size and source of donations.
Soft money is raised under various exceptions and loopholes in the campaign finance laws.
You can raise soft money in bigger chunks from more sources, but you must be scrupulous to pretend it's not being spent in direct support of the candidate you favor. Gore had said to FBI investigators during last year's chapter that he thought that only soft money was involved. The money Gore raised was actually distributed cavalierly between these two categories. So the notes seemed to make him a liar. Only two of the 15 people listed as attending the meeting remember this subject coming up.