Tonight in Washington, D.C., political action committees have an opportunity to help out Maria Cantwell's re-election campaign, despite her pledge to refuse PAC money.

The invitation to the "Washington Senate Victory Reception Honoring Senator Patty Murray & Senator Maria Cantwell" solicits PAC money as well as individual donations.

It doesn't go directly to Cantwell's re-election account. But some of the money is sure to end up helping her in the race against Republican Mike McGavick. Washington Senate Victory, according to the invitation, is a "joint fundraising committee authorized by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Inc. and the WA State Democratic Central Committee."

The money raised tonight will be split according to a formula spelled out on the invitation. But it also says, "Any contributor may designate his or her contribution for a particular participant." That means a donor, whether a PAC or an individual, could say "Put it all on the DSCC." And this year if the DSCC is looking to use its "Washington Senate Victory" money for a victory in Washington, that means using it to help Maria Cantwell.

I asked Karl Frisch, a spokesman for the DSCC, about how the money would be used. He e-mailed to say, "The DSCC has a policy of not discussing fundraising strategies in the press."

Cantwell swore off PAC money in her self-financed 2000 campaign. That doesn't mean she doesn't take money from lobbyists or employees of the same corporations that run the PACs, but she has said rejecting PAC money is a piece of self-imposed campaign finance reform. It's been pointed out before that Cantwell's no-PAC pledge has holes, and makes raising money more difficult. Some supporters wish she'd drop the PAC ban.