Arizona Sen. John McCain focused his recent White House bid on eliminating the influence of big money in U.S. elections, catapulting the issue to the forefront of the campaign debates. McCain and other reformers -- including Vice President Al Gore -- want to plug the legal loopholes that allow corporations and wealthy individuals to pour huge sums of “soft” money into their favorite political party's coffers. But supporters of the current system say further limits on campaign contributions would violate the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech. Recent campaign finance proposals have gone nowhere in Congress, and the Supreme Court recently declined to pave the way for reform by striking down existing regulations.

Mary H. Cooper specializes in environmental, energy and defense issues. Before joining CQ Researcher as a staff writer in 1983, she was a reporter and Washington correspondent for the Rome daily newspaper l'Unita. She is the author of The Business of Drugs (CQ Press, 1990). She also is a contract translator-interpreter for the U.S. State Department. Cooper graduated from Hollins College in English.