BNA Money and Politics ($$) reports that, "analysts are looking ahead to see whether 2008 will produce the kinds of big changes in regulations and practices that followed the last presidential election year." After the 2004 election the Federal Election Commission (FEC) focused on enforcement cases involving the activities of 527 groups, and as a result fined many 527s. Now, some are wondering if similar action will occur this year, again with 527s and in addition with 501(c)(4) organizations. The article references the Campaign Finance Institute's report which "estimates these outside groups are on track to spend as much as $400 million in unlimited 'soft money' this year." Another area for possible new legislation would be to set rules for outside groups, which continue to use unregulated funds on advertising and other efforts that affect election campaigns. [. . .] Steve Weissman helped author the new Campaign Finance Institute study of spending by groups in this year's campaigns. He noted that nearly half of this money—estimated at about $400 million—is now coming from so-called Section 501(c)(4) or 501(c)(6) groups. These organizations—unlike Section 527 groups—generally are not required to identify their contributors, meaning that money for many of the current political ads is coming from unknown sources.