McCain Promises Push for Campaign Finance Reform

The Republican senator from Arizona emerged as George W. Bush's biggest competitor in the Republican presidential primaries, when campaign finance reform was one of the issues that divided them.

And now that the election is over, the issue could emerge as a stumbling block in the early days of the new Bush administration.

McCain said on Friday he "will do everything he can to avoid" putting Bush in the position of having to veto a campaign finance reform bill shortly after taking office. But, he said, "I will never give up on this issue."

Asked on NBC's "Today" show if he would give Bush a couple of months to get up and running before proposing a campaign finance reform bill, McCain all but said "no."

"Then I think we would be interfering with his legislative calendar. What I would hope is we could take it up immediately, get it done in a couple of weeks, and then, by that time, the Bush legislative agenda would be prepared. I'd like to get it up and done so we don't interfere with him," McCain said.

Speaking Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America," McCain said he and Bush have discussed campaign finance reform, and "I believe that he is convinced that some changes have to be made. Whether he agrees with McCain-Feingold or not, I think it should be the subject of discussion and negotiation."

The McCain-Feingold bill, which lacked the necessary support for passage earlier this year, would ban "soft money," the money that political parties receive from wealthy donors, corporations and unions – "special interests," as McCain calls them. McCain once called the current system of financing political campaigns "an incumbency protection racket."

But conservatives blast campaign finance reform as a restriction on free speech. They say it stifles the rights of citizens and organizations to communicate their messages about issues and candidates.

McCain, invoking "bipartisanship," told ABC he now has the 60 votes he needs to overcome a Senate filibuster on a campaign finance reform bill. He was less certain about whether he has the votes to overcome a presidential veto. "I really hope it would not come to that," McCain said, adding that it would not be a good way for Bush to start his presidency.

Asked if Bush can govern as a "centrist," McCain said Ronald Reagan is a good model for Bush to follow, since he kept his base while reaching across to "Reagan Democrats."

"I don't think you need to forsake your principles to try to reach consensus," he said. And that does mean on occasion you have to compromise on details, but you don't have to compromise on principle."

McCain says the message he got while campaigning on behalf of Republican candidates was that the American people "want us to move forward. They want us to work together and resolve these issues ... reform the Social Security system, reform health care, etc. ... And I think they may punish the individuals or parties that they perceive as blocking progress on issues that are very important to them and their families."