This week, the U.S. Senate approved a massive campaign finance reform bill, the largest such bill since the Watergate era.

Sen.’s John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis., are the authors of the bill, which bans the unregulated donations by individuals, corporations and other organizations to political parties.

McCain, who used his unsuccessful presidential bid as a way to bring the idea of reform to the mainstream, can be credited with finally pushing the bill through the Senate after multiple failures over the past six years.

All that stands before the bill landing on President Bush’s desk for signing is the House of Representatives, where similar reform bills have passed through easily in the past.

McCain may not have been the greatest presidential candidate, but he has consistently shown he is a true reformer in Washington.

By eliminating the soft-money loophole and issuing a moratorium on “issue advocacy advertisements” 60 days from Election Day, the power of a rich few is finally being phased out of the process.

Money and campaign contributions have assumed too much of a role in the political process, and it was just a matter of time before reformers in government put an end to quid-pro-quo policies.

While opponents to campaign finance reform argue it violates First Amendment guarantees of free speech, this is simply not true.

Even if you can categorize campaign contributions as free speech, the government can regulate speech, especially political speech, if there is a substantial governmental interest.

In this case, there is one.

Hopefully, if this bill goes into law, America’s political process will become more fair and less dependent on campaign contributions.

Kudos to McCain and Feingold.

editorialboard: Carrie Tett, Jocelyn Marcus, Katie Goldsmith, Andrea Hauser and Tim Paluch