By Michael Luo, New York Times

For months, the White House and Senate Republicans have been content to let a political impasse over vacancies at the Federal Election Commission persist, sidelining the regulatory agency in the throes of a heated presidential campaign.

But on Tuesday, President Bush suddenly announced three new nominees to the commission. He also backed away from Republicans’ insistence that the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department official who faces vigorous opposition from Democrats, be voted upon with other nominees to the commission.

The reason for the about-face?

Several Democratic officials familiar with the negotiations and watchdog groups said they believed that Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, had been pressing the White House and Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, to resolve the issue.

Although Mr. McCain has been a longtime champion of campaign finance reform, he also has an urgent pecuniary interest in the matter.

The agency, which monitors compliance of federal election laws, has had only two commissioners out of a normal complement of six for months, leaving it without a quorum and powerless to act. Without a functioning commission, campaign finance experts said, Mr. McCain’s ability to collect $85 million in federal money for the general election through the country’s public financing system would be severely complicated.

“Without an act of the commission, you don’t get the money,” said Kenneth Gross, a campaign finance lawyer with Skadden, Arps.

(Original Article)