Tired of more and more negative campaigning, year in and year out? Former Maine state legislator and Clean Elections candidate Stephen Bowen suggests public financing could be the "carrot" to entice candidates to leave below-the-belt campaign tactics behind and aspire to something higher. Read his editorial in The Bangor Daily News here.  In the second half of his editorial he discusses the power of the state, in regulating public financing, to "raise the bar" for candidates who want to run clean. His final paragraphs assert the rights of Mainers who fund the Clean Elections system to have campaigns they are proud of:  Voters express more dismay about the inane and superficial nature of political campaigns with every passing election. Voter participation continues to decline, and young people in particular remain turned off to public service.Perhaps by using the carrot of state funding for campaigns, perhaps by setting a high standard for campaign practices, one that encourages campaigns to talk about experience and vision and ideas, we can make political campaigns into something that brings out the best in people, rather than the worst.  It's hard to reflect on the bludgeoning that took place nationwide during the 2006 elections and not want an alternative: does Clean Elections have the potential to make campaign trail mud-slinging a thing of the past?