WASHINGTON – Maine’s lawmakers cheered the hard-fought passage of campaign finance reform in the House on Thursday, saying that if it becomes law, politics will be changed for the better.

“This strives to reduce the influence of campaign contributions in politics,” Democratic Rep. John Baldacci said of the measure. “Banning the large amounts of unregulated soft money will certainly be a drastic change for the better.”

Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, a longtime fighter for overhauling laws governing the role of money in political campaigns, also was “delighted” to see passage in the House, according to spokesman Dave Lackey. “She’s hoping for final passage now.”

The bipartisan House measure, authored by Reps. Chris Shays, R-Conn., and Martin Meehan, D-Mass., shares many of the major reforms that are called for in legislation approved by the Senate last spring. The Senate version of the bill was sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis.

Both pieces of legislation seek to ban ‘soft money’ contributions – which often are huge sums of unregulated money made to national parties for “party building.” That money also can be funneled into specific campaigns as well as pay for expensive television “issue” advertising that frequently makes veiled or overt attacks on specific candidates.

Snowe and Sen. Jim Jeffords, an independent from Vermont, authored a key measure of companion legislation approved by the Senate last spring that regulates such “issue” advertising on television. “This legislation is a one-two punch,” said Lackey, “because the legislation cleans up the campaign finance system and addresses sham issue ads.”

Sen. Susan Collins, meanwhile, spent the last few days contacting Republican moderates in the House and urging them to support the campaign finance legislation. She targeted representatives on a list provided by Common Cause, a national watchdog organization that monitors money and politics.

Collins said three of the four House members she lobbied decided to vote in favor of the reforms.

Collins said she personally would fight any attempts to stall the progress of campaign finance reform when Congress makes its final efforts to reconcile the House and Senate legislation in an effort to send a final measure to the president’s desk.

“I have no doubt the president is going to sign the bill,” Collins said. “I have spoken to him personally about it in the past and have always had the impression he will sign the legislation.”

Rep. Tom Allen, D-Portland, also expressed optimism that the president will support the reforms.

“This is a major, major victory and it looks like it’s going to become law,” Allen said. “It won’t change the entire system, but it’s a bottom-line change. Major contributors will no longer be able to give $500,000 or $1 million that gets turned around to attack ads.”