The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has introduced a new tool on its website to track presidential campaign donations as part of an effort to make campaign finance data more accessible. An online map graphically displays individual contributions to 2008 Presidential candidates organized by zip code. Users can compare contributions to specific candidates, all candidates, or all candidates from a political party, and you can also export the data into an Excel spreadsheet.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) received a letter yesterday from reform groups on her leadership involving recent House Lobby and Ethics reform legislation. A similar letter was sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). The letter calls on the Democratic leaders to keep the strong provisions in their respective bills intact so that numerous changes do not weaken the bill during the upcoming conference report. The groups express concern for the bundling provision, maintaining the disclosure by lobbyists of their fund-raising events, and disclosure of lobbyists bundling contributions.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AU) have asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to investigate the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, R.I., because of an article written by Bishop Thomas Tobin criticizing Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani for his position on abortion. The article appeared in the diocese's official publication and said he would never support a candidate who supports legalized abortion.