Please don’t throw me into that campaign finance reform briar patch!

From today’s Washington Post: “Republicans have a huge edge in Campaign Cash”

Republican campaign committees are positioned to raise at least twice as much as their Democratic counterparts, enabling them to help GOP candidates up and down the ballot by expanding the party's successful grass-roots organizing efforts and coordinated advertising campaigns.

"The spending advantage will be enormous," said veteran Democratic strategist Harold Ickes. "Not overwhelming -- because that means it's hopeless -- but enormous."

The Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University, which studied campaign spending in the 2002 elections, concluded that the GOP's hard money advantage provides "an ominous warning for Democrats in the 2004 election cycle."

Ironically, much of the Democrats' financial dilemma stems from their success in passing the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law last year, party fundraisers believe. The measure, which received minimal support from congressional Republicans, prohibits the national political parties and federal candidates from raising and spending "soft money" contributions.

Terry McAuliffe: here’s a big fat Nelson “Ha-Ha!” for you.