Since the nineteen forties, the traditional place for political speech by American unions and companies has been through political action committees.

VOA: special.2010.03.12

Barack Obama, Edwards has eschewed fund-raising from lobbyists or Political Action Committees (PACs) during the 2008 campaign.

FORBES: John Edwards

But it was DeLay who devised the plan that fund-raisers and political action committees worked from in 2002.

NPR: Washington Eyes DeLay PAC Trial in Texas

Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) have dropped a contentious proposal to ban contributions from political action committees.

CNN: Jump-Starting Finance Reform