Chase Foster of Democracy North Carolina writes in the Raleigh News & Observer that the presidential public financing system is "clunky, outmoded" but very necessary provided it gets some updates. Foster suggests looking to North Carolina's Voter Owned Elections and other full public financing programs at the state level as a guide for updates that keep candidates running with public financing competitive against those running with private money.

The Federal Election Commission is just about back in business following a months-long stalemate over the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky for one of the open seats on the Commission. Von Spakovsky later withdrew his name from the nomination process. With the confirmation of three Republicans and two Democrats by the Senate, the FEC will now have quorum to issue binding decisions.

Courtesy of the Brennan Center's Laura MacCleery and Andrew Stengel this summary of the principal shortcomings of the current presidential partial public financing system, and the major changes that need to be made to ensure the system can continue to do its job mediating the influence of big contributions on the electoral process and allowing candidates without access to deep pockets to remain competitive.

Faith Bremner of Oregon's Statesmen Journal talks with Michael Malbin about the presidential public financing program: it's flaws, potential fixes, and why the public seems to know less and less about how it works with each passing year. Did you mark the check-off on your tax return this year?

We just faxed in the letter to the FEC opposing a ruling that would hamper the ability of small donors to support presidential candidates running with public financing. Thanks to the fast action of Public Campaign members we were able to fax upwards of 7,000 signatures of support along with the letter (that's 40 printed pages of signatures!). Here's our release on the letter and signatures.

Making the rounds in Iowa in support of his presidential bid, Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) spoke to students at the University of Iowa and reiterated his support for public financing of campaigns as a way to restore "legitimacy" to the political process, particularly in the eyes of young people.