This was "the week that was" for campaign finance reform. The stakes were high. The votes were close. You could cut the tension around the Capital with a knife. And when it was over, just like all the years in the recent past, there was no result. The only winner may well have been U.S. President George W. Bush, who doesn't really want to sign a campaign reform bill and may now be off the hook, at least for the moment.
Campaign reform is like an all-day sucker. It won't go away. The important question about it is: Do the American people really care? It fails to rank high on issues in the polls, but it certainly contributes to the distrust of government, which does rank high in the voters concerns. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona showed how the issue could ignite the populace during his campaign for the presidency last year. He continues to provide leadership on the issue in Congress.
There are many areas of agreement on the broad issue of the financing of elections: