U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson is used to outside groups running anti-Matheson TV and radio ads as the Democrat struggles every two years to win his GOP-dominated district.

He expected similar ads this year. But they haven't come yet.

And because of the new McCain-Feingold campaign reform law, upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, Matheson hopes he won't see them. At least not like he did in 2002 and 2000.

"I'm a little surprised" that outside groups have not run ads against him this summer as the new law's 60-day pre-election moratorium started running Friday. "But it's a new world this time" after McCain-Feingold, Matheson said this past week.

Electronic ads paid for by independent groups not directly associated with the candidates or their political parties must have aired by Friday — 60 days from the Nov. 2 election.

One reason no anti-Matheson TV ads have run, the two-term congressman suggests, is because many of the larger special interest groups were spending money elsewhere — in the presidential contest or other high-profile congressional contests. "Or maybe, because I'm doing OK in the polls, they just assume I'm in" and so any anti-Matheson money is a waste, Matheson joked.

Still, he warns that McCain-Feingold's 60-day pre-election prohibition for independent expenditures only applies to TV and radio ads. Special interest groups can still do direct mail and/or telephoning right up to Election Day. "We may see some of that yet."

But there is one big "special interest" group that has come into the 2nd District race: the Club for Growth.

The pro-tax cut, pro-smaller government 527 political group has, as of Aug. 30, passed along club members' checks to Republican John Swallow to the tune of $202,000.

That's roughly 25 percent of all the cash Swallow has raised in this, his second attempt to unseat Matheson. Swallow lost to Matheson by fewer than 1,600 votes in 2002.

While it's true that those donations come from 1,390 separate givings from individuals, most of those club members have never met Swallow personally and can't vote for him. They live outside of the 2nd District; live outside of Utah.

They picked Swallow's name off a list of 20 or so candidates the club is supporting in 2004. Club executives say their members get newsletter updates on the candidates, their positions, and assessments of whether they can win their close races or not, and, at the suggestion of the club, make personal donations accordingly.

The club only supports GOP candidates who have a shot at defeating incumbent or challenging Democrats or moderate Republicans. For example, it's poured hundreds of thousands of dollars this year into former GOP Rep. John Thune's challenge to Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota.