Campaign Finance Bill Seen Gaining in Senate

Democrats Narrow Gap with GOP 'Gang of 5'

With a conversation here and an amendment there, Senate Democrats have narrowed the gap separating them from five Republicans whose votes are needed to pass President Clinton's embattled bill to overhaul Congress's loophole-ridden campaign finance laws.

While the most serious disagreements remain unresolved and odds may still favor continuation of partisan deadlock on the issue, several key players indicated Friday at the end of the first week of debate on the measure that they are hopeful about reaching agreement.

"We still have a long way to go, but they {the Democrats} have done a lot of things," said Sen. John H. Chafee (R.I.), one of the Republican mavericks who has laid down a list of conditions that have formed the basis for the most serious bipartisan negotiations on the issue within memory.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) thinks "it may just be possible to strike a deal in the next couple of weeks," said Mark Buse, a legislative aide to McCain who has been working with the senator on the issue.

Sen. James M. Jeffords (R-Vt.) "feels really good" about the prospects for a deal, considerably more optimistic at the week's end than he was at the beginning, said Susan Russ, the chief of staff to Jeffords.

Because Sen. Bob Krueger (D-Tex.) could be unseated in a special election June 5 and because Democrats cannot count on the vote of Sen. Richard G. Shelby (D-Ala.), it may take the votes of all the Republican mavericks to shut off a filibuster threatened by the Senate GOP leadership.