After a failed presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., continues to push for his main platform from last spring — campaign finance reform.Supporters of the reform bill said it is not a challenge to President George W. Bush, but rather says that soft money — donations from corporations, unions and individuals — should be outlawed to keep campaign donations from playing such a major role in politics.Charlie Johnson, a former member of College Republicans, said some Republicans in Congress do not want to see campaign finance reform pass because the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to free expression.”Some people say it will violate their right to donate to a candidate they support,” he said.Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science, said McCain, who is working with Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin, to form the bipartisan bill, could run into some major difficulties with both parties in Congress.Schmidt said the big problem is deciding whom the bill should affect. Democrats want to limit the money spent by corporations, and some Republicans have said if that is the case, then unions should have limits too, Schmidt said. Traditionally, big corporations have funded the Republicans while unions are big spenders for the Democrats, he said.”I think the unions and the Democrats are going to resist, but discussion will come up on how else do you reduce funding,” Schmidt said.Jan Bauer, chairwoman for the Story County Democrats, said she is in favor of campaign finance reform because of the amount of time candidates spend raising money for campaigning. She said Democrats will be willing to negotiate.”There is too much financial influence in the electoral process,” Bauer said. “The Democratic Party is definitely in support of restraining spending on campaigns.”Bauer said the Democrats might oppose the bill “if they somehow show provisions that restrict unions giving contributions.”Johnson, junior in political science, said he wants to see campaign finance reform, but not the bill McCain is proposing.”I am in support of some kind of campaign finance reform, because you have candidates spending $60 million per campaign,” he said. “That is ridiculous.”Despite all the difficulties, Schmidt said he does expect the bill to pass through Congress.”Both parties need to pass campaign finance reform because the public seems to want it,” he said.Although Schmidt said he expects to see new campaign finance laws, he doubts the productivity of them.”In my own personal view, it won’t be all that effective,” Schmidt said. “We tried campaign finance reform in the ’70s, and it ended up [creating] political action committees, which is what we have now.”Johnson said it will be very difficult to keep campaign finance reform effective for a long period of time.”If it is enforced, it could work for a while,” he said. “There are always candidates who find loopholes.”Schmidt said some people are questioning whether Bush would sign the bill, if it passes through Congress.”I’m not sure if Bush is going to fight it,” Schmidt said. “He can certainly live with it.”Bauer said it would help Bush reach across party lines, but the chances are minimal that he will.”It would definitely help him out, but he is not interested in campaign finance reform,” she said. “I would be very surprised if he did sign it, but I certainly hope he would.”