This so-called soft-dollar business has allowed anything from research to marketing to be financed by investors who had no idea what they were buying.
The DNC spots were funded with so-called "soft money" -- funds intended for party-building or get-out-the-vote drives, not for specific campaigns.
In the meantime, the Republican and Democratic parties are unleashing the last of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of so-called "soft money" -- hard cash -- in the final barrage of campaign ads and get-out-the-vote efforts.
Automakers seem to have become smitten with the practice of slicing and dicing new-car segments into smaller niches in recent years like so many soft-drink varieties.
But Europe - believing so strongly in soft power - had failed utterly in its own backyard at Srebrenica.
We have witnessed our medical colleagues embrace so-called "soft skills" (communication skills, a good bedside manner) through their improved undergraduate education.
The group also favors banning so-called "soft money, " unrestricted donations to parties, and providing free or discounted TV advertising to candidates who abstain from accepting private donations.
Ironically, it is the so-called "soft" services like youth clubs and initiatives that help keep young people out of trouble and which nationally the Education Select Committee says have been cut more than any other.
The reform legislation still contains a controversial ban on so-called "soft money, " the money raised by national, state and local parties and purportedly used only for party-building and get-out-the-vote drives, rather than direct help for candidates.
Maybe I'm filled with the milk of human kindness, or perhaps I have a soft spot for supermodels--I'm a gay man, so I have at least one soft spot for supermodels--but I actually believe that it's possible for a beautiful, young woman to fall in love with an obscenely wealthy older man.
In addition to concerns about so-called pay-to-play practices, they have questions about the use of soft-dollar arrangements, in which brokers collect higher commissions on trades in return for providing research and other services to advisors.
FORBES: U.S. Institute Senior Delegates�� Roundtable Speech (June 7, 2004 )
According to sources at the meeting, Cunningham accused McCain of doing "more harm than good" to Republicans by advocating a ban on soft money without also calling for so-called "paycheck protection" that would impose limitations on the political expenditures of labor unions.
"Even so, it is not definitive evidence that sugar-sweetened soft drinks increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes, other than through their effect on body weight, " he added.
So far, his soft measures have kept the economy growing at double-digit rates while keeping inflation from getting out of control.
There's a culture in our society that says remembering these obligations is somehow soft - that we can't show weakness, and so therefore we can't show kindness.
But there is a further explanation, rarely mentioned, which recent events have brought to the fore: that many voters, including some critics of Mr Berlusconi, see him as soft on tax evasion and so vote for him out of self-interest.
ECONOMIST: Silvio Berlusconi's success: In heaven or hell | The
So far it is offering the software to 1 million homes in Washington, Micro-soft's home base.
So successful was the brand that Snapple inspired dozens of imitators and prompted major soft-drink companies to introduce their own fruit and tea beverages to compete.
Like so many other items in the company's lineup, the Arc has a soft-touch back, adorned with a diamond pattern of criss-crossed lines.
Some soft-impact lasers can nudge objects into a calculated orbit toward Earth so they will be pulled down and burn up in the atmosphere, Schonberg said.
Minkoff's soft-line exaggerated shoulder, instead of the aggressive ones that were so popular on the runways a few years ago (and in the 1980s), also turned up elsewhere.
Ironically, in doing so, it actually made the transition harder for ex-8300 and 8800 users than a traditional soft keyboard would've.
ENGADGET: BlackBerry Storm2 hands-on and impressions Hands-on
As Pacquiao has ascended into one of the planet's most compelling athletes, so has the reputation of the 51-year-old Roach, Pac-man's soft-spoken engineer in the corner, counseling wisely behind black-rimmed eyeglasses.
We have soft power, the policies of attraction that Professor Nye has so elegantly crystallized: long-term, positive, appealing aspects of American culture and society that aren't necessarily calibrated to promote a particular policy or initiative, but are always working for us in the background.
So, he pulled his trailer into the parking lot of a pottery store and touted his partially-melted, soft ice cream as a brand new type of dessert.
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