Evidently, every man DOES have his price.
Campaign Finance Reform is McCain's SIGNATURE issue. He's willing to gut a key component of campaign finance law so that his presidential campaign can get hundreds of millions of dollars that Democrats don't have. Let me say that again: Not only does John McCain want to let MORE dirty money into the system, but he wants to do it a way that will help HIM and not whoever challenges him in the next election. Yeah, that's honest.
That is the definition of a typical Washington politician and a typical Republican member of Congress. Wave a few bucks, or a few hundred million, in front of their face and the principles go flying out the door.
John McCain the Maverick, RIP. Via Atrios:
House Republican leaders have struck a deal with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to eliminate restrictions on coordination between national parties and federal candidates, a change in the law that would be of great benefit to the winner of the 2008 GOP presidential primary, according to congressional sources.
Republican and Democratic campaign-finance experts alike believe the change would be a boon to McCain’s campaign, if he wins his party’s nomination in three years, an outcome that political handicappers are beginning to view as a real possibility....
Eliminating the coordination limit would be especially helpful to the Republican presidential nominee in 2008 because the Republican National Committee (RNC) has a huge fundraising advantage over its Democratic counterpart, greater than the disparity between the Republican and Democratic fundraising committees affiliated with the Senate and House.
The RNC has raised $130 million so far this election cycle and has nearly $41 million in its war chest. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has raised $67 million since the beginning of 2005 and has only about $9 million in the bank.
“It’s obviously going to help the Republicans more — more money — unless the Democrats can play catch-up,” said Ken Gross, a campaign-finance expert with the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
