Montana might not seem like the logical setting for a full-scale brawl over a U.S. Senate seat, but with the U.S. Senate majority in the balance, every contest in the states matters. The voters of Montana have thus been inundated by ads from outside groups spending millions to push their issue or candidate.

New Yorks U.S. Senate candidates, Republican Representative Rick Lazio of Long Island and his Democratic opponent, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, have agreed to discourage outside interest groups from airing issue advocacy ads during the contest and to let the two candidates and their parties duke it out on their own.

The Sierra Club is distributing campaign items attacking Senator Spencer Abraham in the form of a "campaign contribution," above, and his "environmental batting average," below.

A conservative group in Alabama has filed the first court challenge to recently passed campaign finance legislation that aims to force certain tax-exempt political groups to disclose their donors and expenditures.

A campaign finance law intended to resolve questions about unregulated soft money is generating as many questions as answers. The legislation targeting so-called "Section 527" groups has led to a flood of inquiries at the Internal Revenue Service amid confusion and complaints about the interpretation of which groups must file under the law.

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2000 — At the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, cars and drivers will be provided for all attending Republican members of Congress, along with 24-hour concierge service, staffed with 50 workers at the ready, according to news reports.

Though the law forcing certain tax-exempt political groups to disclose their donors and expenditures is just days old, some of the interests behind the groups are already seeking ways around it.

With a 92-6 Senate vote, Congress has passed the first campaign finance reform legislation in 21 years. The Full and Fair Campaign Finance Disclosure Act of 2000, introduced in the Senate by longtime campaign-reform advocate John McCain, R-Ariz., was approved by the Senate June 29 after clearing the House shortly after midnight on June 28.

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2000 — On June 8, the Senate passed an amendment by Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., that would force currently invisible political groups to disclose their identities and their sources of funding. Congress is trying to decide which measure will best accomplish that.