51.   The commission has spent the past year reviewing standards of national election reform after the controversial presidential election.

52.   The issue of election reform has become merely another partisan battleground.

53.   The House has passed its version of election reform.

54.   The Legislature rejects the will of the people and ignores an order from the Supreme Judicial Court on the issue of election reform.

55.   The project last year formed a council of executives assigned to twist the arms of their peers into backing election money reforms.

56.   The Republican-controlled House is also holding hearings on election reform and expects to draft a bill by this fall.

57.   The Senate has taken the lead in advancing election reform, and had done so even before the Democrats gained control of that chamber.

58.   The senators and representatives said they expect little opposition to the bill because the public is interested in election reform.

59.   The upheaval was made possible by election law reforms supported by President Ernesto Zedillo and grudgingly approved last year by the ruling party.

60.   This is in fierce dispute, of course, but it is the larger moral canvas on which the emerging debate over election reform is being played out.