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Washington Prowler

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"In light of recent actions by the FEC to undermine the bipartisan campaign finance reform act, it is critical that Ellen Weintraub, who has been recommended for a seat on the commission, be appointed as soon as possible," McCain wrote. The Bush administration has stated that Weintraub is in line to fill a Democrat seat on the election commission (split between three GOP and three Democratic members). She was expected to replace Democrat Karl Sandstrom. Weintraub is liberal campaign warrior. She's worked as a lawyer for the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. McCain has backed her nomination because of her support for his McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation.

According to a White House source who operates on Capitol Hill, McCain has been pestering the White House about the Weintraub nomination for weeks. The pestering turned to outright petulance last week when Sandstrom voted with the Republican members of the FEC to allow soft money to flow more readily to state party coffers.

"He's watching his hallmark piece of legislation get butchered by the FEC and now he's pissed," says the White House source.

But what really angered Rove was that McCain had once again gone off the reservation and leaked the letter to the media before talking to anyone in the White House about it.

McCain's letter comes just as Rove is finishing a deal with Daschle on a series of nominations the White House has seen held up by Democrats for months.

"It's just like McCain to do this at the 11th hour, when we're so close to getting something done," says a Senate leadership staffer, who added the McCain had never raised his concerns with Republican leaders. "He hadn't mentioned anything about bottling things up, no threat, no discussion, no nothing. Just a letter."

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