Campaign Finance Bill Seen Gaining in Senate

Democrats also accepted amendments from McCain and Chafee to tighten rules against the use of campaign funds for personal purposes and to ban out-of-state fund-raising more than two years before an election.

Together, these agreements addressed or resolved about half of the Republicans' complaints about the bill. But other, more difficult issues remained to be resolved, including taxpayer financing, which Democrats regard as necessary to secure compliance with spending ceilings in light of a 1976 Supreme Court ruling that bans mandatory ceilings.

As a substitute, Durenberger has proposed a gross receipts tax on campaign contributions, which, as an inducement for compliance with ceilings, would be waived if a candidate agreed voluntarily to abide by the limits.

But it may be hard to bridge the gap on this issue, Durenberger said Friday. "They {Democrats} just don't seem to be able to get off of their own proposal for public financing," he said.

Less optimistic than his colleagues, Durenberger said his pessimism stems from fear that the House would not go along with any agreements reached in the Senate. As a result, he said, he and his colleagues might vote for cloture and for the bill if they can reach agreement with the Senate Democrats on all key points, while reserving the right to join in a filibuster if the bill comes back from the House in an unacceptable form.

This, however, could bring all the players back to the very thing they want most to avoid: a filibuster.