Elections May Bring New Accord In Senate

In their combined 42 years in the Senate, McConnell and Reid have toiled energetically for their parties, raising funds and recruiting candidates while becoming personally well off. But their energies have triggered criticisms. Recent hard-hitting news articles have focused on questionable land transactions by Reid and aggressive fundraising by McConnell.

The two men say they have played by the rules and have broken no laws, and neither appears subject to a serious challenge from party colleagues. But the recent round of articles suggests that both continue to test the limits on raising and spending campaign money -- a practice almost certain to draw more scrutiny when one of them assumes the Senate's top post.

"The no-quarter-asked, no-quarter-given atmosphere is not going to disappear after this campaign," said Ross K. Baker, a Rutgers University scholar on Congress. "Any weakness will be highlighted; any lapse will be emphasized."

McConnell, 64, who battled polio as a child, is best-known for his fierce resistance to a series of campaign finance changes generally dubbed McCain-Feingold. He argues unapologetically that politicians should raise as much money as legally possible to further their goals and attack their enemies.

His no-holds-barred approach to fundraising has endeared him to many GOP colleagues but has prompted criticism from others. Most recently, the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader published a series of articles portraying the senator as an insatiable solicitor of political money from interest groups -- including tobacco companies, car makers and pharmaceutical firms -- with whom he is cozy.

The articles concluded that McConnell has raised nearly $220 million during his Senate career, and pushes so hard that even his closest allies sometimes rebel. "Are you feeling a choking sensation?" a vice president for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. was quoted as saying in an e-mail after the senator had asked the firm for $200,000 in "soft money" to aid Republican campaigns.

McConnell defends his aggressive fundraising, equating political advocacy with free speech. "You must have money in politics, because it's the only way the candidates can get their message across," he said.

Reid, 66, has occasionally been forced to explain his involvement in transactions that mixed politics with profits. In 2003, the Los Angeles Times published lengthy articles chronicling his sponsorship of legislation that promised benefits to Nevada developers, corporations and institutions whose lobbyists included the senator's sons and son-in-law. Reid's staff later barred relatives from lobbying his office.

This month, the Associated Press reported that Reid did not disclose to Congress that he sold land in Nevada to a friend's company in 2001 and took part ownership of the firm. He collected a sizeable profit when the land was sold again in 2004. Reid, who had a hardscrabble childhood, said he had never tried to hide his ownership of the land, but later he amended his ethics reports to more fully reflect the transactions.

Reid said these issues are behind him, and he promised a new tone in Washington if Democrats take over the Senate.