Follow the Money.

The 2004 U.S. presidential election has presented fresh challenges as reporters struggle to chronicle not only the enormous fundraising operations of President George W. Bush and challenger John Kerry, but also to understand and document the ramifications of the campaign finance bill that Congress passed two years ago. Dubbed the McCain-Feingold law after its two main sponsors, it raised the limit on individual contributions to federal candidates from $1,000 to $2,000 and banned unlimited soft money contributions from labor unions, corporations and wealthy individuals to political parties. The press has been guilty of some missteps in its money coverage, including a preoccupation with dollars as the decisive characteristic in the presidential race and a tendency toward pro-reformer bias in its coverage. Some stories rely too heavily on jargon or fail to offer clear enough explanations for readers not steeped in the arcana of campaign finance law. But holding presidential fundraisers in private residences or channeling money into more secretive organizations is unlikely to stifle journalists' interest in a beat that inspired a generation of reporters and remains a priority at the nation's top papers.