The most important number in this year's presidential election may not be 270, the "magic number" of Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. It could be 527 - as in "527 groups," named for the section of the tax code that lets these organizations, independent of either party, raise and spend as much as they can.

And spend they do, pouring millions into fangs-bared, loose-with-the-truth TV ads that bash Bush and skewer Kerry, feigning propriety with a fig leaf of "voter education" on the issues. The real shame of it, as we said Tuesday, is that by using 527s to smear the candidates, both sides are distracting voters from the real issues. Because candidates can distance themselves from scurrilous attacks their campaigns could never dare mount directly, the political discourse this year is sinking.

The recent uproar has been over a TV ad by a 527 called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that claims Kerry lied about his Vietnam service in 1969. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political funding, the group spent about $550,000. But that's chicken feed. The four top anti-Bush 527s - MoveOn.org and the affiliated Media Fund, Joint Victory Campaign 2004 and America Coming Together - have spent $104,621,623 so far.

The trigger for this barrage of attack ads: the federal McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform, which became law in 2002. It was intended, ironically, to diminish the corrupting influence of big money in politics. It stopped the flow of so-called "soft money" - large, unregulated contributions from companies, unions and individuals - to the parties and candidates, but not to independent groups. Guess where it went?

These consequences may have been unintended, but they were hardly unanticipated. In March 2002, we cited a warning from Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, that the law would "drive money away from the parties and into 'unregulated private groups that aren't accountable through public reporting and that are not subject to contribution limits.' " And so the candidates have lost control of their own messages in 2004.

Or maybe not. There are suspicions that the campaigns are illegally coordinating their messages with the 527s. The Kerry campaign accused the Swift Boat group of that, citing the involvement of GOP players such as longtime Kerry foe John O'Neill and Texas millionaire Bob Perry.

But this works both ways. Jim Jordan, fired as Kerry's campaign manager late last year, is now spokesman for the Media Fund, founded by Bill Clinton's former deputy chief of staff. Zack Exley, "special projects" director for MoveOn.org until April, is now Kerry's online coordinator. You don't need a pencil to connect the dots.

The bottom line is that the candidates don't have to take responsibility for what is said on their behalf. They can let the ads run, deny any connection, then "condemn" them when it's politically expedient.

What can be done? We'll look at that tomorrow.

Second in a series

This continues a series of editorials about recent attack ads by independent groups. Tomorrow, we look at possible solutions.