The so-called Wounded Warriors Act, legislation intended to improve health care for veterans, has attracted nearly unanimous, bipartisan support in Congress. So why would the newly formed Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America begin running a television commercial urging the citizens of South Carolina to tell Congress to pass it?
The answer lies in the commercial’s glowing images of Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican banking on a South Carolina victory to jump-start his cash-poor Republican primary campaign. The group that paid for the advertisement operates independently of Mr. McCain’s campaign, but was set up and financed by his supporters seeking to help him as much as possible up to the limits of the law.
Highlight of the whole business:
Mr. McCain has crusaded for years against just this sort of unencumbered political spending and has publicly called upon the foundation to stop the advertisement, a request competitors say seems half-hearted and the group’s leader has ignored.
I don't think it was a planned venture, but I'm not sure it matters. After someone knows that a group backs her/him because a particular stance, will they be willing to to reconsider given new information? Won't the carrot of continued support hold them in place? That's the problem with money in politics. Any ideas on how we're going to solve that? I hate the idea of federal finds, but it seems like one of those lesser evil things now.
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