Does ANY sentient human being expect the democrats to behave any differently once in power than the republicans did (AND the democrats before 1994). As Mark Twain said, Congress is America's only true criminal class. Aint a dimes worth of difference between the parties except for the faux outrage of the aggrieved.

It isn't about raising money, everyone needs money to run for office. It's who you are accepting money from. The cozy relationship between politicians and lobbyists continues. All should be allowed to raise as much money as possible as long as there is immediate disclosure of the source of that same money.

Heh -

I bet the independents and moderates that voted in the current bunch of bozos are suffering from buyers' remorse.

If you were hoping for a change, remember - "hope" rhymes with "dope."

The problem is that under the current campaign financing structure, you either have to be (i) very rich and willing to self fund or (ii) willing to run around acting like the zombie panhandlers in South Park asking everyone for change.

I think it would be better simply to remove limits but require full disclosure (and computerize disclosure so it is more real time).

I am currently reading the oral history/autobiography of retired Judge James Buckley, who was elected to the Senate in 1970 as a Conserative from New York. He ran a real outsiders campaign. He was able to get his campaign started thanks to a big contribution by one supporter, and a line of credit from another. Neither supporter wanted anything -- both were simply "true believers".

Buckley never heard back from the supporter who gave him the line of credit after it was repaid. The other supporter contacted Buckley once when he was in office -- the supporter was visiting Washington and wanted to have lunch in the Congressional dining room (which Buckley says he did). That was it.

Let the true believers give as much as they want, but require full and fast disclosure.

This is just the usual game of the Dems, blast the GOP for what you are doing. The sad irony is that this might not even be a bad thing, but the constant bickering from the left just makes it look that much worse. How much corruption will the Democrats tolerate? We do not know, they have not reached a point yet where they feel the need to act honorable. Willaim Jefferson? anybody?

Glenn:

"The whole contention of the article is that nothing has changed, that the Democrats are doing the same thing as the Republicans, but they back that up with what, a quote from one person and then a "Lobbyists say little has actually changed in Washington". What lobbyists?"

Well, yeah, they back it up with that, and then this:

"According to the records, the Democratic House and Senate committees reported $32.7 million in contributions. The Republican committees reported $22.9 million."

Minor detail there, I guess, huh?

Qwinn

The democrats will and have done plenty of good things, and tried to do more but were blocked by republican rubberstamps. I don't think the democrats won in 2006 because they were going to be the walking on water party. We have that now and it stinks. What they will and are doing is caring about the american people, unlike this administration that has plotted the energy program with the enron honchos. They have put republican incompetents in all the important positions and just let them bleed tax payers dry. There is no way that a democrat administration could ever reach the depth of evil that this bunch has. The democrats will continue to raise money, they aren't stupid. They are staying ahead of our own evil doers - the Bush/Cheney administration.

Qwinn,

I think you missed my point. You have to look at what politicians are actually doing, not simply how much money they raise. The Democrats are this year raising a bit more than the Republicans; when the Republicans were in Congress they were raising MUCH more than the Democrats. But that's not the point. The point is the Republican corruption, and the fact that the Democrats passed rules to make it harder to abuse power and take bribes the way the Republican Congress did. Things have changed. The Democrats are not the same as the Republicans.

Best comment posted so far here was by Virginia, when she said...

"I've never seen a more scanty and less balanced report on this program, with seeming agenda.

"I have to believe that Peter Jennings would have rolled over on this one."

Brian Ross has fallen a couple of notches in my view. I want slime reported when slime exists, be it Democratic or Republican. But I agree with Media Matters on this one. Brian, this was a hatchet job.