Republicans' secret formula — 501(c)(4)

[Commentary] As even the most inattentive television viewer knows, a tsunami of political campaign money is flooding onto the airwaves this election year -- more than $3 billion by some estimates. That's so much money that Wall Street is raising its profit forecasts for broadcasting companies as a result.

Like almost every pursuit in this free-enterprise country, political campaigning is a business. And, as in many businesses, success often goes not to the entrepreneur who brings a product to market first but to the one who exploits it best. This year's innovation is the no-holds-barred use of a section of the federal tax law that covers nonprofit "social welfare" organizations: 501(c)(4). Traditionally, 501(c)(4) organizations are groups such as the NAACP or AARP, not political campaigns. But some canny political entrepreneurs, initially Democrats but now mostly Republicans, realized that 501(c)(4) committees could buy television commercials — to denounce Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), for example — and never disclose who their donors were. That's a scandal.