"John McCain, Russ Feingold reunite to block Barack Obama's FEC pick"

This is an important development:

In a surprising move that invokes memories of a bitter skirmish during Obama's annihilation of McCain in last year's presidential election, Feingold (D-Wis.) and McCain (R-Ariz.) have placed a hold on the FEC nomination of Democratic labor lawyer John Sullivan, POLITICO confirmed Tuesday. Their hold could reverberate in Congress, the White House, the 2010 midterm elections and beyond.

In a statement issued in response to POLITICO's inquiries, the lawmakers signaled they would release the hold only if Obama taps two additional nominees to fill expired seats on the six-member independent panel, which critics contend is systematically deregulating campaign rules.

The article quotes Meredith McGehee of the Campaign Legal Center as follows: "Doing something about the FEC without doing something about the McGahn problem is just unacceptable... [T]his is a guy who is basically implementing a deregulatory ideology in violation of both the spirit and letter of the law."

The Center for Competitive Politics is not pleased with the hold. [CORRECTED: The original post said "Center for Responsive Politics" and I'm sure both CRP and CCP are offended by my confusing the two groups!]

Posted by Rick Hasen at July 1, 2009 08:20 AM