While most of Washington worries about inflation, seven Senators seem to have found a miraculous way to beat it. Each reported to Congress last week that he had spent absolutely nothing getting elected in 1968. Such a feat of legerdemain is not restricted by ideology or party; the Stingy Silent Seven include Arizona's Barry Goldwater, Georgia's Herman Talmadge, California's Alan Cranston, Arkansas' J. W. Fulbright and South Dakota's George McGovern.
Their reports expose the futility of the Federal Corrupt Practices Act of 1925. Designed to limit campaign expenses, the act has never been...