Well, the Wall Street Journal thinks so: he’s the FEC chairman who has to determine policy on 527s and their shaking soft-money makers. Smith happens to be against restricting 527s, apostate Republican that he is, which makes the entire thing so blissfully ironic: we’ve got one of those 180 degree turnarounds going on here all over the Beltway, with the usual lack of shame (for example, a page search on the above site and here for Daschle is informative).
Given the nice things that the WSJ had to say about Smith, it’s a pity that the commission punted the problem until next month. Well, depending on who you ask: it’ll certainly won’t be changed until well after Super Tuesday, which may be just long enough…
Moe, I am confused about this. I thought, with the Republican deep pockets and corporate support, the 527’s would be great for them, steadily, and as a source of emergency funding.
Is the RNC getting tapped out? Sources drying up some as Bush’s poll numbers decline and Repub pessimism rises? Would surprise me.