The Thorn in His Side, Part II

By DOUGLAS WALLER

George Bush signed John McCain's campaign-finance-reform bill with as little fanfare as he could last week--he even had an aide phone the Arizona Senator with the news instead of inviting him to a signing ceremony. Bush hopes enactment of the bill, which McCain has pushed for seven years, finally shifts the spotlight away from his nemesis in the 2000 Republican presidential primary. G.O.P. Senators would also like a breather from McCain's legislative reforms.

Don't bet on it. In an interview with TIME, McCain says he wants to capitalize on the campaign-reform bill's success by following it with other initiatives, such as getting states to adopt campaign-reform laws and giving the Federal Elections Commission greater enforcement power.

McCain also wants to halt a practice Congress holds dear--"earmarking" federal funds in budgets for pork-barrel projects back home. The appropriations bills for 2002 have more than 7,800 earmarks. The waste "has become outrageous and obscene," says McCain. Earmarks in the 2002 defense bill, which he calls "war profiteering," would cost $3.6 billion.

McCain plans to mobilize the grass-roots activists enlisted for the campaign-reform bill and his presidential bid to push these causes. But many members of Congress, re-elected on how much bacon they bring home, will fight to keep earmarking even more fiercely than they did soft money. Says a senior Senate G.O.P. aide: "McCain will be able to make his points on 20/20, but it's highly unlikely he'll get legislation passed."

--By Douglas Waller