On Monday, the United States Senate began its first serious debate on Campaign Finance Reform in the last decade as it took up the McCain-Feingold bill. Previous efforts to get this seven-year-old bill to the floor had been prevented by Senate procedural moves or by threat of a filibuster. However, the new 50/50 split between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, coupled with the momentum McCain gained in his insurgent 2000 presidential bid, has allowed the bill its first real consideration in the upper house. The bill still faces stiff opposition from some traditional Republican foes, such as Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, as well as from some Democrats, who are concerned about union opposition to the bill announced last week. The legislation would ban what is commonly called soft money -- money given to the political parties, ostensibly for party-building purposes, but in practice for everything from issue ads to election-day vote drives -- and place a moratorium on issue ads from special interest groups within 60 days of a general election. A competing bill, offered by Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska) and supported by Majority Leader Trent Lott, would place a cap of $60,000 on soft money contributions and raise the individual contribution limit from one to three thousand dollars. Senators McCain and Feingold both oppose Hagel's alternative, believing that it would legitimize soft money and "be worse than the system" now in place (Senator Feingold quoted in the Baltimore Sun -- see below). Lott has said it is unlikely McCain-Feingold will pass in its present form, predicting that some sort of amalgam of it and Hagen's bill will be sent to the White House. Bush has indicated his preference for the Hagen bill and announced last week that he would not support a ban on soft money.