Like the hero of a paperback thriller, campaign-finance reform keeps dodging bullets. Legislation meant to clean up the political-money game was almost left for dead last summer, but the Enron scandal revived it again. And last Wednesday evening the bill survived yet another near-death experience, when its backers in the House went head-to-head with one of their most powerful opponents, the National Rifle Association. Republicans, led by Tom DeLay, the majority whip from Sugar Land, Texas, offered a clever "poison pill" amendment that would have exempted gun-rights groups from the bill's limits on paid issues advertising. If the amendment passed, it could have killed the entire bill by forcing it into a House-Senate conference, where opponents could bottle it up forever. N.R.A. lobbyists swarmed through the Capitol, warning Democrats and Republicans alike that they would pay dearly if they voted against the amendment. But the reformers rallied again. Senator John McCain, his nose bandaged because of a recent skin-cancer surgery, camped out in an office on the House side of the Capitol-across the hall from DeLay's suite- and pleaded with Republican supporters not to break ranks. House minority leader Dick Gephardt, hobbled by a recent hernia operation, phoned more than 30 Democrats to stanch defections.
展开▼
