We don't get Metro here in DC, but if you're a reader of the free daily newspaper in New York you may have seen this My View article by Thomas Keown in favor of Clean Elections, and the Fair Elections Now Act championed in the Senate by Sens. Dick Durbin and Arlen Specter. It's a quick, good read.

In his speech on the floor of the Senate announcing his intention to introduce a full public financing bill, Assistant Majority Leader Richard Durbin (D-IL) asked his colleagues to think beyond initial ethics reform to a more comprehensive solution: "I hope it will only be the beginning and that we can move, even in this session of Congress, to meaningful hearings and the passage of public financing of campaigns that will truly reform the way we elect men and women to office at the Federal level and restore respect to this great institution of the U.S. Congress, both the House and the Senate. " Read on for the full text of the speech.

Yesterday Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) announced that they will push for public financing of federal elections.

Sen. Durbin is the second-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership. Dodd is the most senior Democratic member of the committee that oversees campaign finance regulation.