The idea is to make fat-cat funders think twice before writing a check for attack ads against Democratic candidates and causes.

Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons gave nearly $3 million to the American Issues Project so it can run a TV ad linking Barack Obama to 1960s anti-war radical William Ayers and the Weather Underground.

Four years later, many of the wealthy donors who funded the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry are still very active in molding public opinion.