At first glance, a law that went into effect this month to raise the limit on how much money people can donate to political candidates won't be felt by very many Montanans.

After all, how many of us routinely fork over the maximum allowed campaign contributions?

The measure, introduced by Rep. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, was meant to address campaign expenses that have inflated over the years. It raises the amount a person may give a candidate for governor from $500 to $630. The limit for other statewide candidates rose from $250 to $310, and the amount for legislators and local-government candidates increased from $130 to $160. You can give twice that much to a candidate who is in a contested primary race.

The bill received bipartisan support during the 2007 legislative session, and no wonder. A candidate's hunger for campaign money isn't affected by his or her political ideology.

And the fact remains that Montana still has some of the lowest contribution caps in the country. For instance, the national average campaign contribution limit is $7,475 for governor and $3,671 for a state senator. Montana is one of only seven states with contribution limits of $1,000 or less. Fourteen states, including North Dakota, have no limit at all.

But even if many of us don't personally make it habit to donate as much as we can to candidates, Montana's increases still are important. We all are impacted by the quality of the people who are running for office -- regardless of how much of their own cash they can pump into their campaigns.

Bottom line: When we're rooting for a slate of candidates that suits our brand of politics, we certainly want them to have enough money to campaign effectively.