81.  Such donations are called hard money.

82.  Supporters say they intend to argue in court that free speech is protected because ads paid for with hard money would be allowed right up to the elections.

83.  The distinction is important because the size and frequency of hard money contributions is strictly limited by federal election law, whereas the reins on soft money are looser.

84.  The Democrats have exceeded their hard money expectations and are on pace to meet their goal for soft money.

85.  The Federal Election Commission requires some hard money to be used with soft money.

86.  The measure would also help candidates facing wealthy, self-funded opponents by tripling the amount of hard money they can collect per person.

87.  The two bills differ sharply on limits on so-called hard money, the regulated donations that unlike soft money can be directly used to aid individual political candidates.

88.  The Times Union said its analysis of contributions covered hard money, and did not examine the soft-money donations to either Clinton or Giuliani.

89.  They have also been pushing harder to raise the smaller, more regulated donations known as hard money, fearing they will have to rely more on such contributions.

90.  Though McCain wants to do away with soft money, he does not refuse hard money contributions from individuals who give soft money to the party.