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With the 2002 and 2004 elections in the offing, this article analyzes the role of money in politics, the 2000 elections and the present situation, the rise of soft money and the various attempts at reforming the system, focusing on the McCain-Feingold bill passed in the Senate in March 2001. The various developments of such a breakthrough (vote of the House and role of the Supreme Court) are presented as well as the unintended possible consequences of such a reform and its probable inadequacy. It concludes on the various other ways in which the franchise and democracy are being jeopardized by the way American elections are organized (Electoral College, winner-takes-all, two-party system) and the way the political decision-making process works.