What should be done about 527s--those new organizations used primarily by Democrats (so far) to skirt the McCain-Feingold legislation passed in 2002? Republicans and Democrats have been tussling over this for months, with the GOPers ludicrously pretending to be the voice of reform and clean government. But what the fate of 527s should be is no easy question. And the dispute may not be resolved immediately--a good thing for Democrats and perhaps even the right decision.

First, some history. When Congress passed McCain-Feingold, advocates of true reform--as well as Democratic partisans--had reason to worry. The measure included a much-needed provision prohibiting the donation of "soft money" to political parties. For years, corporations and unions had been cutting six- and seven-figure checks to both major parties. Wealthy individuals--limited to $1,000 donations to candidates--had been doing the same. These contributions became party slush funds for the benefit of particular candidates. The soft-money scam undermined the intent of campaign law: to prevent an individual or entity from buying access to or favors from elected officials. But the price for the soft-money ban was high: Republicans insisted on doubling the amount of permissible hard-money contributions--the much smaller donations that individuals send directly to a candidate.

With soft money zeroed out and hard-money limits raised, it wasn't too hard to foresee what McCain-Feingold would yield: Republicans raking in the hard money, and Democrats scrambling. In recent years Democrats and Republicans were nearly even in bagging soft money, but the GOP, with its appeal to high-income donors, greatly outpaced the Democrats in hard-money donations. As of late March, the George W. Bush campaign had a $108 million cash advantage over John Kerry's.

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