1.   Banning unlimited money for political parties might lead to the money going to bogus groups for use in even more destructive campaigns.

2.   Advocates of the change believe banning soft money is a huge step toward limiting the influence of big donors.

3.   Donors and election law experts agree that banning soft money would radically alter the fund-raising landscape, but might not diminish the influence of special interest money.

4.   For his part, Bush asserts that banning soft money would hurt the Republican Party by strengthening the hand of labor unions, which typically support Democrats.

5.   He supports banning soft money.

6.   One choice is permitting federally backed experiments on a handful of cell types that have already been identified, but banning public money to develop more.

7.   President Bush has said he opposes banning soft money donations from individuals and he favors the approach championed by Hagel.

8.   Republican House leaders, led by Tom DeLay of Texas, oppose banning soft money for a variety of reasons.

9.   So, will banning soft money contributions to political parties reduce this disproportionate influence?

10.   President Bush, while avoiding an outright veto threat, has said he opposes banning soft money.