Presidential donors find funding loopholes

WASHINGTON, May 30 (UPI) -- Election law loopholes allow both major U.S. political parties to hold fundraisers where donors can give up to 30 times the individual cap, analysts say.

The McCain-Feingold law caps individual donations to presidential candidates at $2,300. But donors to the McCain Victory 2008 committee -- or to its Democratic equivalent -- can legally give up to $70,100. This is accomplished by having the amount split into smaller donations between the official campaign, its legal and accounting fund, the national committee and state party groups supporting the candidate, reported the Washington Times Friday.

"It's all perfectly legal, but the point is there are people who can give sizable checks and spend more face time with candidates because they're able to write $70,000 checks," said David Donnelly, national campaigns director for the non-profit Public Campaign Action Fund. "It seems like a gaping hole in the practice of how the McCain-Feingold law operates."