The Washington Post's headline is "Campaign Finance Law Fails Its First Test." I have to admit to some fundamental confusion about what the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act is supposed to accomplish. It's not that I haven't tried to understand what BCRA is about; rather, it's just really hard to cut through the accusations and counter-accusations on both sides of the debate. It's not even clear that supporters (like Brooking's Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein) and opponents (like Senator Mitch McConnell) are talking about the same bill. Granted, McConnell's arguments appear in a brief attacking the bill and Mann's and Ornstein's arguments appear in a paper for popular consumption. Still, if Mann and Ornstein are simply correct (i.e. if they're not engaging in their own "spin"), then McConnell and his lawyers are employing some serious hyperbole, if not outright distortion of the law, in their brief. According to Mann and Ornstein, BCRA "bans no speech." According to McConnell, the law is a frontal assault on free speech.

Who's right? More on that later. Now it's time for bed.