81.   The Sierra Club is running issue ads touting the environmental records of two California Democrats in competitive re-election races, Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Loretta Sanchez.

82.   The Sierra Club has begun broadcasting issue ads in support of Republican Rep. Nancy Johnson.

83.   The three major networks generally do not run issue ads.

84.   These organizations are supposed to use the money for generic issue ads, but they are often laden with messages aiding one candidate or crippling another.

85.   These party-financed issue ads have been criticized by campaign finance advocates because they are viewed as a way of circumventing contribution limits imposed on candidates.

86.   Those nonprofit organizations also use issue ads and tend to support Democrats, the senators argued.

87.   To most voters, lost in the political media blitz leading up to Election Day, such issue ads are indistinguishable from express campaign advertisements, Magleby said.

88.   Under federal rules, issue ads can urge people to call their representatives on a topic but cannot ask them to vote for or against a specific candidate.

89.   Unions and corporations would also be banned from funding issue ads in the final two months of a campaign.

90.   While the draft suggests several ways that Congress might regulate issue ads, it acknowledges the threat regulation poses to the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.