MobLogic comes to us from CBS Interactive. On April 7th host Lindsay Campbell tackled the issue of campaign cash, as we have before, using stats provided by our friends at the Center for Responsive Politics. They also use some footage from a PSA released by our partner Declare Yourself.

On their blog, MobLogic wonders what the candidates feel about Clean Elections, something Senator John McCain answered when we met in Manchester, New Hampshire. At Common Cause’s Common Blog, Josh Zaharoff reviews Lindsay’s vlog:

They keep it light hearted, but it’s excellent to see coverage of the money — not just how much, but where it comes from, and whether that’s good for democracy or not. That’s not a rhetorical question. More small donors getting involved is a great development, but it’s not clear how permanent and widespread the trend is.

We often point out that despite the fact that spending on United States elections is far beyond what any other country spends, we rank 139th of 172 countries in voter turnout.

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Posted in Election Reform, Campaign finance, Election 2008 | No Comments »

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I hopped off the campaign trail last week. I thought I needed some space, but I soon found myself yearning for the ebb-and-flow of election energy. Drama among the Democrats, rifts in the Republican base, increasing turnout, and polling percentages… for a political junkie it is all too addicting. Today’s candidate contests are being held in Wisconsin, Hawaii (for the Dems), and Washington (again). (more…)

Posted in Campaign finance, Hawaii, Mail-in voting, Washington, Election Reform, Polling, Wisconsin, Absentee ballots, Legislation, Primary schedule, Election administration, Election 2008, Election Day registration, Early voting | 1 Comment »

This week’s edition of Newsweek will feature Anna Quindlen’s article about public financing in Arizona’s elections. Although clean elections may not be the final answer, Quindlen reports, offering a voluntary system of public funding “does much of what it is supposed to do: gives ordinary people a sense of ownership, eliminates the automatic advantages of incumbency and opens the door to a broader field.”

John Rauh, founder of Americans for Campaign Reform and friend of Why Tuesday?, agrees that offering an alternative to privately funded campaigns is of ultimate importance. Candidates who choose public funding need to feel that they can compete, after all, Rauh says, “You cannot buy an election. You can only lose it if you don’t have enough to make an impact.”

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Posted in Election Reform, Campaign finance, Friends of WT? | Comments Off

The next election will most likely break all previous records in campaign spending, and the money barrier is as high as ever when it comes to running for federal office. At the same time, confidence in our elections remains shaky at best.

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Greetings from Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia where we’re shooting the first episode of our new documentary series, set to debut with our new website in the weeks ahead!

Monday I’ll be in New York attending an event put on by friend of Why Tuesday? the Drum Major Institute. It’s a symposium about clean elections — getting big money out of politics to give voters a bigger say — featuring Dennis Burke, the former head of Arizona’s Common Cause, and others. For the info from the DMI, click below.

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Posted in Election Reform, Arizona, Campaign finance, New York, Friends of WT? | Comments Off