The Open Secret: Senator Edwards's fund raising activities show a troubling pattern. Who knows what's going on here, but such patterns have shown up before. Al Gore's Buddhist temple visit also raised suspicions that reimbursement-for-donation practices were widespread. I think they surely are, in both parties. If it's done right, it's a tough thing to prove. This is one of the penalties of our campaign finance laws: when donations are capped at such a low level, the incentive to find back doors is incredible.