11.   But across the Hill, the subject of political spending was far from expiring before the Senate committee seeking to grill Ickes about campaign abuses.

12.   But he insists that the evidence of campaign abuses speaks for itself.

13.   But it also got them into a Senate hearing on campaign finance abuses.

14.   But law enforcement officials concluded that he was not a major figure in campaign finance abuses.

15.   But surely Congress can limit flagrant campaign abuses without compromising free-speech values.

16.   By the time she excused the fund-raising phone calls, she had already found insufficient evidence to support such an appointment on a host of other campaign finance abuses.

17.   Campaign finance abuses do not rank high on the national scale of voter concerns.

18.   Chung, the fourth person charged in five weeks in an investigation of campaign finance abuses, has agreed to cooperate with authorities.

19.   Congress clearly needs to extend the Senate committee that is investigating campaign fund-raising abuses.

20.   Democrats countered that the GOP has shown no interest in leading an even-handed investigation of campaign finance abuses.