Late last month, with all the fanfare the White House might normally reserve for the reauthorization of funding for the Bureau of Weights and Measures, President Bush signed into law the most sweeping change to federal campaign finance laws in nearly three decades.
There was no Rose Garden signing ceremony, no photo ops for the bill's sponsors, no presidential pens as keepsakes. Instead, Bush released a tepid statement that alternately praised and trashed the bill, which will virtually ban 'soft money' contributions to political parties. Then, the president made a point of flying off on a series of fundraising stops aimed at raising $4 million -- much of it soft money -- for several GOP candidates.
