We all know that candidates for the Presidency and Congress alike are making the calls to the small, elite group of donors known for writing four-figure checks in election years. But other major avenues for political money are the independent 527 groups who can raise an unlimited amount of money and spend it at will, provided they follow requirements to disclose the source of that money.

Laura MacCleery of the Brennan Center for Justice challenges a recent proposition in Roll Call to deal with the largely unregulated activities of independent "527" committees in elections by loosening campaign contributions limits, suggesting that a much better alternative is a robust full public financing program for federal elections.

House approved legislation last night to limit contributions to "527" committees. Details in the Washington Post.

Clean up Congress... Without DeLay!The Wall Street Journal editorial below stops a hair's breadth short of calling on DeLay to step down.I've spent a little time perusing around the blogosphere today, particularly looking at what some more c...

Interesting column by Cragg Hines in today's Houston Chronicle entitled "If Newt is warning DeLay about ethics, times are bad." ...

Newsweek published an article entitled "DeLay: More Cash—And More Questions." It seems that DeLay, in addition to cramming his war chests full of cash, has been filling his legal defense fund with "donations" from lobbyists (which, accor...