On the Web, Democrats Counter Thompson Hearings

WASHINGTON, D.C.: With Republicans grabbing the spotlight in the campaign finance hearings that are heavily weighted to expose alleged Democratic misdeeds, the Democrats have turned to the Web to get their message out. Their "Catalog Of GOP Campaign Finance Abuses" is a 13,000-word compendium of references to GOP abuses in newspaper and magazine articles. It's their own Web version of "I know you are but what am I?" While the page is of course partisan, the Dems do have a point. Only 24 of the 183 subpoenas issued by the Thompson committee target Democrats. The inquiry entirely misses one of the most prominent targets, Haley Barbour, the former chief of the Republican Party who's been accused of wrongdoing, since Thompson has limited his inquiry to the 1996 campaign.