In various charges and countercharges about who is the true campaign finance reformer, Lazio has asked that Clinton stop using money from accounts her campaign has set up for unregulated and unlimited soft-money campaign cash. In response, Clinton has called for an end to the myriad third-party anti-Clinton groups whose ads and activities help Lazio. Specifically, Clinton has called on Lazio to have the heads of 14 of these independent organizations sign documents in which they promise to refrain from influencing the race in any of the many ways they've tried -- through TV and radio ads, direct mail, push polls and the like.

And, according to a source in the Lazio campaign, the scrappy Republican will "call her bluff" on this last point. On Monday and Tuesday, Lazio campaign manager Bill Dal Col was reportedly trying to secure those signatures from the 14 groups, which the campaign hopes will place Clinton in the untenable position of either putting her campaign at a financial disadvantage or looking as if she's breaking a campaign promise.

How much any of this is based on a real desire for campaign finance reform is, of course, questionable. Meridith McGehee, senior vice president of Common Cause, a nonpartisan nonprofit working to overhaul the nation's campaign finance laws, dismisses much of the Lazio-Clinton debate as "political maneuvering."

Still, such maneuvering made the highlight reel of the Sept. 13 debate between the two Senate candidates. During the 60-minute show, held in Buffalo, N.Y., and hosted by NBC's Tim Russert, Lazio said that "as America looks to New York, this is an opportunity for us to be able to say, 'We don't have to rely on soft money.' And my campaign has not had one commercial nor raised $1 in soft money. My opponent has raised soft money by the bucket loads."

Said Lazio, "I have right here a pledge that I sent over to my opponent. It's a 'ban on soft money' pledge. I am willing to say we will neither raise nor spend a dime of soft money, and ask all outside groups to stay away, if my opponent is willing to do the same."

Clinton countered that she agreed with a ban on soft money as long as "we don't have these independent expenditures ... If you will get signed agreements from all your friends who say they are raising $32 million and will not be running so-called independent ads, will not be doing push polling, will not be doing mass mailings that are filled with these outrageous personal attacks, I think we can have an agreement."

Added Clinton: "I would like to see those signed letters from all those different groups that you have counted on to flood this state. I think if we can get signed agreements from all of your allies when you wouldn't ask the one group to stop, but if you will get those signed agreements, then you know we can make a deal."

Later in the debate, Lazio walked across the stage to Clinton's podium, brandishing a document he called the "New York Freedom From Soft Money Pledge," which he demanded that she sign. She demurred. Since then, both campaigns have made steady use of the issue in press releases and public comments.

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