President Bush’s campaign has found a way around spending limits imposed as part of the deal for accepting $75 million in public financing.

Political parties are limited this year to spending $16 million in coordination with their presidential candidate. Using a glaring loophole in campaign finance law, Bush is able to exploit and coordinate Republican Party money beyond the limit.

The Associated Press offers this explanation from Republicans: The cost of ads that mention congressional leaders or broadly partisan tags such as “liberals” can be split between the re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee without counting toward the $16 million limit. Add the word “and congressional leaders” to “President George Bush” and, like magic, spending limits disappear.

The ads are clearly meant to bolster Bush, but in the arcane laws of campaign finance common sense rarely prevails.

Two things are apparent. The campaign is not interested in the intent of the law and Democrats aren’t paying attention.

According to the AP, the Democratic National Committee was unfamiliar with the strategy until asked about it by a reporter. A spokesman would not say whether the party would now take advantage of the same loophole.

Campaign finance laws are a mess. Efforts to more strictly regulate contributions led to the creation of the infamous groups called 527s that have come under assault by the president. Meanwhile, some nonprofits, classified as 501(c)3s and funded for entirely particular industries, have skirted the rules by launching “issue” ads that clearly target particular candidates in particular districts.

When the smoke settles from this election, we need to take another look at the laws that govern campaign spending. Right now, the country is caught in a free-for-all.