McAuliffe’s Woes

By PoliPundit ~ February 21st, 2003 @ 5:25 am

The Washington Times has a great editorial making the point that McCain-Feingold is giving DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe migraines:

As Texas governor running in the GOP primaries, Mr. Bush obliterated all fund-raising records. He raised a phenomenal $100 million in hard money in 1999 and 2000, when the individual limit was $1,000. As president, and with Mr. McAuliffe’s cherished McCain-Feingold bill doubling the individual hard-money limit to $2,000, all bets are off. Fair guestimates would begin at $300 million, which would be nearly seven times the $44 million limit Democratic presidential candidates could spend during the primaries and before the convention if they accepted public subsidies, as most, if not all, are expected to do.

His wish having been granted, Mr. McAuliffe has now gone from shell shock to cold turkey. The bad news for him is that the shivers are unlikely to cease any time soon — unless the Supreme Court gives him comfort by declaring the ill-considered McCain-Feingold bill to be the unconstitutional attack on free speech that this page has long argued it represents.