GOP Finally Starts Forming Its Own 527 Groups

Now that the Federal Election Commission has decided to allow Bush-hating groups to decimate the campaign finance "reform" that Democrats screamed for, Republicans are finally fighting back.

GOP leaders have asked James Francis Jr., the force behind the wildly successful Bush Pioneers from the last presidential election, to head the Republicans' chief "soft money" organization, Progress for America, the Washington Post reported today.

Francis said he was awaiting legal advice before deciding whether to join Progress for America.

Democrat commissioner Scott Thomas predicted May 13 when the FEC refused to regulate the "soft money" groups, "I think it is possible the Democrats could wind up, from this point on, worse off."

So far, however, the Democrats' unrestricted 527 and 501(c)(4) groups, named after sections of the federal tax code, have already piled up more than $50 million to defeat President Bush. Counting on the likes of George Soros and the Hollywood left, they hope to raise six times that amount.

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