But then, one of the problems I have had with Bush is that he didn't veto McCain-Feingold the second it hit his desk. What we are beginning to see is the result of letting the "restrictions on political speech" camel's nose into the tent.

The 527s are the "loophole" in the law, and it's not surprising that the market would shift to an overabundance of such outfits. The Democratic plan for campaign finance reform was to shut up the opposition, while their well-financed 527s and their buddies in the media carried the messages for them. Why do you think they were so enthusiastic? Obviously they didn't expect a tiny outfit with a fraction of the Moveon.org budget to make this kind of impact. Didn't see that one coming, I'm sure.

I don't like Moveon.org at all, and I'm sure the Left doesn't like Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, but a good constitutional case can be made that in a free country, anybody should be able to cough up the cash to get their viewpoint across. If you start making exceptions for millionaires, or any other people you don't like, where do you draw the line?

And in an age where I can get an ad on the internet for almost nothing, is access to the expensive press and television time as critical as it once was? How many people saw the Swift Boat or Moveon.org ads on TV vs. the Web?

I'm not sure where to go from here. Repealing McCain-Feingold might be a good idea. Public financing of elections is a crappy solution. You can bet the fix will be in as to who is eligible for the money.

Bush should just be quiet about the 527s, and so should Kerry. They both should have seen this coming.