Senate approve campaign finance amendment that raises individual limit.(Chicago Tribune)

WASHINGTON _ The Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to help political candidates raise cash to compete against multimillionaires spending their own fortunes in order to win a seat in Congress.

The amendment to campaign finance legislation, approved 70-30, would create a complicated, three-tiered formula for increasing contribution limits to a non-wealthy candidate facing a self-financed opponent. The calculations are based on a state's population and the amount of money spent by the wealthy candidate.

Lawmakers live in fear of confronting a candidate with unlimited funds. During the 2000 election, for example, one Republican incumbent, Sen. Slade Gorton of Washington, narrowly lost to a wealthy challenger, Democrat Maria Cantwell. Cantwell spent $6.5 million of …