Shall We Dance?

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But McCain believes the public is on his side. While he was making his announcement about Cochran's support, Republican Senators were hearing a briefing from pollster John Zogby, who argued that the best way for them to reach out to voters is to climb aboard the campaign-finance-reform bandwagon. "Bulls___," howled Senator Mitch McConnell, the McCain bill's most ardent opponent. Other hard-liners are softening. Senator John Warner said he wouldn't mind a bill to turn back the tide of unregulated attack ads that anonymous groups run against candidates. "In 1978 I knew who I was running against," Warner, who's up for re-election in 2002, told his colleagues. "Now I don't."

Lott is trying to outmaneuver McCain, perhaps by pre-empting his bill with one that Hagel has crafted--a rival measure that conservative Republicans find more palatable. Instead of an outright ban, Hagel's measure would put a cap of $60,000 on the soft-money contributions a business, union, pac or individual could make in any year. The Nebraska Senator says he's having "serious discussions" with Bush aides on fine-tuning the measure so the new President might back it. McCain could also be derailed with a little presidential pressure. Some of the G.O.P. Senators supporting his bill might be persuaded that they don't really want to trip up their party's first President in eight years before he has even unpacked at the White House.

Why is McCain so adamant about causing trouble for the new guy in town? The Senator says he's merely doing what's right. Bush thinks he's still sore about being trounced during the primaries and that this is payback. On the night Gore conceded, McCain made the rounds of the TV networks touting his reform plan--and irking the Bush team. McCain brushes off their sniping. "I campaigned on it, and I promised millions of Americans," he says. "If we don't do anything the first few weeks, we never will. If we passed a bipartisan bill, it would be great for Bush." He just wants to help his President, like it or not.