GOP Sues to Undo McCain-Feingold

Welcome back to the GOP, Sen. McCain. Your loss has finally made the GOP wake up and realize they need to get rid of some of the ridiculous McCain-Feingold restrictions:

The Republican Party will file federal lawsuits Thursday seeking to overthrow the McCain-Feingold federal campaign finance regulations, Republican National Committee Chairman Robert M. "Mike" Duncan revealed Wednesday night at a private dinner with the nation's Republican governors.

The move is considered a slap in the face of the Republican Party's failed 2008 presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who was dramatically outspent by Democrat Barack Obama, and of President Bush, who signed McCain-Feingold into law in 2002.

"We will bring two federal suits tomorrow to strengthen the Republican Party," Mr. Duncan told The Washington Times.

Mr. Duncan said one suit will be filed in the District of Columbia to strike down the soft-money ban that is the central tenet of the McCain-Feingold Act — formally known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. "Soft money" is largely unrestricted contributions from wealthy individuals, corporations and labor unions.

The second suit will be in a Louisiana federal court to strike down the limits under the law Mr. McCain co-sponsored with Sen. Russ Feingold, Wisconsin Democrat, that control coordination between parties and their candidates.

It's about time. The Obama campaign probably once and forever killed public financing of presidential contests. I can't imagine any candidate in the future willing to be handcuffed by those restrictions.

Personally, I don't think there should be limits on how much an individual can give to a campaign. I see it as a free speech issue, and if you wish to give $1,000 or $100,000 to a presidential candidate you should be allowed to do that. I can agree with limits on corporate donations, but individuals should be free to donate whatever limit they wish as long as they're legally allowed to donate.

I also think candidates should have to fully disclose each and every donation regardless of amount, and that credit card donations be allowed only if full security features are activated on the candidate's websites to avoid fraud. Because the FEC will not audit Obama's contributions, we'll never know how much foreign money came in or how many people violated the current donations limits, and requiring full disclosure should help control illegal fundraising.