The RNC Throws A Pie In John McCain's Face

 Nine days after the election, the Republican National Committee is no longer interested in being friends with their nominee.

They've filed suit today in courts in Louisiana and Washington, D.C. claiming that the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA)'s ban on soft money donations to parties is unconstitutional.

This isn't one of those arcane debates.

Republican activists, donors, state party chairs, national committee men and women HATED the soft money ban because they (a) well, many of them thought it was unconstitutional but (b) more prosaically, they worried it would give an energized Democratic Party an edge in fundraising and (c) even more pragmatically, the party funded a lot of its stuff with soft money and always had an edge over Democrats.    At the time, the RNC's hard dollar donate-by-mail lists were the pride of the industry, but Howard Dean was quickly transforming the campaign finance landscape for Democrats.

John McCain is the man behind the soft money ban...well, so was Fred Thompson, but he won't admit to it.  The goal was to break the link in a nexus of potential corruption between corporate interests, union interests and politicians.

Even though other parts of BCRA have been modified, campaign finance reformers point to the soft money ban as an accomplishment; no longer are federal office-holders soliciting massive "unregulated" donations from corporate interests.

One of the reasons why RNC committee members and party hacks had so much trouble accepting McCain was that he was the guy who dismantled the way things were.  (The professional conservatives used first amendment arguments and the like -- I have sympathy for these arguments despite my flip tone here.)

Nine days on, McCain is no longer the nominee, Mike Duncan, the RNC chairman, is probably going to run for re-election, and no one is really paying any attention to the RNC's internal doings.

There has literally been no more propitious a moment for the RNC to attempt to challenge the soft money ban. It's kind of a ploy. Why not concentrate on policy? Making up the internet deficit? Modernizing the Voter Vault database? How soon do they expect the courts to rule on this? (This won't be done before the 2009 governors races...sorry.)

Duncan, in a statement, said that the RNC "must have the ability to support state candidates, coordinate expenditures with our candidates and truly engage in political activity on a national level."  (This is slightly misleading: the RNC can do all of these things now within limits, which is what Duncan seeks to erase.)