With election Day four days away, national politicians can be forgiven for giving more thought to November 6, the day after the elections, than to November 5. That is the day the new McCain-Feingold campaign finance law will go into effect, banning soft money donations to the national political parties and imposing restrictions on advertisements by independent organizations. While the first day will determine control of Congress for the next two years — though with the Democrats’ geriatric choices in New Jersey and Minnesota and the recent trend of party hopping we wouldn’t be surprised if the Senate’s control flips and flops a few more times — the second day will be integral to determining the make up of both houses and the presidency in 2004, as well as the general balance of power between the two parties going forward.

The flow of money into politics cannot be stopped — as one might think would be self-evident to any observer free of childlike naivete — nor would it be a good thing if it were. Thus, it is both expected and heartening to see the parties moving as quickly as they can to route around the damage done to our body politic by the odd coalition of idealists and cynics pulled together earlier this year to pass McCain-Feingold. The insidethe-beltway paper Roll Call issued two particularly illuminating articles yesterday detailing the specific ways that the par ties are squirreling their way through the new maze that has been set up as the November 6 deadline looms.

Reporter Amy Keller lets fly with a dispatch titled, “Ready or Not: Campaigns Brace for New Law Nov. 6,” taking a macro look at the situation. Above all, Ms. Keller paints a picture of confusion. “I’m sure there will be a lot of consulting with lawyers for a period of time after this law goes into effect,” she quotes the Federal Election Commission’s former general counsel, Larry Noble, as saying. “I know it’s been going on already, and there will be a real market for training.”There may also be a market for more paper-pushers. For decades House and Senate candidates had to file reports only twice during an off-election year. Now they have to file quarterly, election or no. Further, campaign committees will be required to maintain either full-size photocopies or digital images of contributors’ checks — all for pleasure of potential audits.

In another dispatch, Susan Crabtree gets into the nitty-gritty of how the parties will adjust, focussing on a new political group being formed by a former Republican Representative, Wm. Paxon of New York, and a former chief of staff to Majority Whip Thos. DeLay, Susan Hirschmann. The group, Ms. Crabtree reports, will be established as a so-called 527 organization and named the Leadership Forum. The one-page IRS filing for the group describes its purpose as to “engage in nonfederal political activities on state and local levels and to engage in dialogue on issues of importance to all Americans.” State issues, one imagines, will include the election of state Representatives and Senators. Mr. Noble tells Ms. Crabtree he expects the FEC to write narrow definitions of terms that will allow the Republicans to use the group as a fundraising mechanism. For example, Mr. DeLay could speak to a group of potential donors, much like with a regular fundraiser, and “say an awful lot of things that to the average person will be considered a request,” without running afoul of the new law. Ms. Crabtree calls this the “wink-and-nod approach.”

Winking and nodding, we suppose, is what Washington, and politics in general, is all about. But it’s hard to see virtue in a law the main impact of which will be to increase the level of deception in the political system. If businesses or interest groups are buying politicians, better that it happen in the open, through donations to candidates and parties.