Papers in New Jersey and Alaska are rallying behind Clean Elections, and the Albany Times-Union runs an op-ed urging New York Governor David Patterson and the state legislature to advance public financing of elections. Is it my birthday?Alaskans will vote on a Clean Elections ballot initiative in August and the Kodiak Daily Mirror says that with all the corruption the state has seen of late, it's something you need to vote for: "Clean Elections or Ballot Measure 3 is worth it. We need to work on a clean start, provide an alternative to the current process and establish a voluntary system of public funding."Meanwhile, New Jersey's Courier Post, which has a history of supporting Clean Elections progress in the state calls on the state legislature to fund the next round of the Clean Elections pilot program, which would cover more races, as well as primaries in the selected districts.A more lengthy argument in favor of public financing of elections comes in the Albany Times-Union courtesy of The Brennan Center's Andrew Stengal and Laura MacCleery. Like Spitzer before him, but perhaps more successfully, Paterson is shopping around a proposal that will close off some glaring contribution loopholes and impose new limit on certain kinds of contributions. It's a good start -- but there's more work to do: There was talk then that the public financing of campaigns would come next. Expectations should be no different this time around. The only meaningful way to address the influence of money in politics is by a system of public financing.Look no farther than Connecticut for an example of the accident waiting to happen here. A hive of political corruption was uncovered throughout the state when it came to light that, among other offenses, then-Gov. John Rowland accepted gifts such as a free hot tub and a state senator had a $30,000 no-show job. In reaction, Connecticut introduced a raft of reforms to reduce the influence of political insiders and wealthy special interest donors and created a voluntary system of public financing for candidates. That's exactly what New York needs.