This is just not right. It must be addressed, somehow, by someone. -- Georgia Runoff Exposes Gaps in Finance Law

From The Wall Street Journal:

The runoff for a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia is providing a stark example of how candidates in the 2008 election have been able to skirt campaign-finance limits -- without actually breaking the law.

Federal campaign-finance law limits individuals to donating $2,300 to a candidate per election. Yet Republicans and Democrats are soliciting donations more than 10 times that amount for the Dec. 2 runoff in Georgia. GOP fund-raisers are asking people to give as much as $65,500 toward incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss's campaign, while Democrats are seeking donations up to $30,800 for challenger Jim Martin.

So how are the caps legally dodged? By using a "joint fund-raising committee" to steer chunks of outsized donations to various accounts that technically aren't part of a candidate's war chest, but that nonetheless are spent on his or her behalf.

In Sen. Chambliss's case, the $65,500 is divided among his campaign, the Republican National Committee, the Georgia Republican Party and the campaign arm of Senate Republicans. Mr. Martin's operates similarly. Both campaigns declined to comment.

The Senate candidates in Georgia are hardly the only ones to use this hugely popular loophole this year. In fact, both President-elect Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona relied on special accounts that accepted donations up to $70,000 to raise $350 million of the total $1 billion they collected during the presidential race.

The number and size of joint fund-raising committees has exploded since a 2002 law banned companies, labor unions and individuals from donating unlimited funds to the Republican and Democratic parties. The rationale for the $2,300 individual limit was that any larger donation gave the appearance of buying influence over government officials. The joint accounts, then, undermine the spirit if not the letter of the statute.